Putney? more like Put-don't

So, my bread and butter excuse for why I haven't done well in my limited cyclocross racing over the last year has been that I just crash too much. Well, I went down to Putney on Sunday for the West Hill race - I didn't crash once - and I still sucked. So, this means I just rode slow. Even so it was still fun :-).

Ben Coleman, who also works at the Skirack, won the Cat 3 race & Matt Monbouquette, who also works at the Skirack, got second in the Cat 4 race. It was great fun watching them race so well.

There will probably be some pictures from Putney up in the next day or two...

4 Weeks until my first x-c ski race of the year! Stew on that.

Oh, and Will Dugan is my darkhorse pick for the U23 Cyclocross National Championship. I gave him a superlative pep-talk this evening...I'd elaborate, but I think you kinda had to be there.

Oh well...and other happenings

So, it looks like I counted my ducks before they hatched. No Richard Geng for next season...he's off to the glorious mid-atlantic to ride with the Rite-Aid Pro team. Its still exciting that he'll be racing here next season.

Speaking of Glorious people from Europe...I talked to my Belarusian teammate Sasha just the other day on the phone. It had been a couple months. Well, he's gotten himself a long-term visa, a girlfriend, a new apartment, a new job, and he's taking a college class. He's been staying busy! And I'm sure he's really happy to have the visa situation worked out.

The 2008 NRC (National Race Calendar) schedule for bike racing came out. Nothing to crazy or new going on, but its good to see that Fitchburg is back on the map, and Cox Charities is in too. That race has been getting better and better fields each year.

Incase you didn't know "Sport Stacking" is getting huge. I think it may become my new passion. Well, maybe just to watch. Its weird.

Shelburne Half-Marathon Pictures

Fooling the System

I have once again dooped the Nebra system...and potentially tricked people into thinking I am better at riding bicycles than I am. Hah Hah!

The 2007 Nebra Road Rankings for Pro/1/2 are completed and it was a good year for people named Jake. Jake Keough was first and I was second.

However, don't be confused - Chris Jones, Mark McCormick, Amos Brumble, Josh Dillon, Adam Myerson and lots of those guys are better than me....but not at DOOPING THE SYSTEM.

*takes a bow*

Oh, and I had hinted before about a German rider...its confirmed, Richard Geng, the famous "Geng Green" of the 2006 Fitchburg Stage race, will be racing with CCB for the 2008 season (and hopefully be living here in Burlington).

Parental Picture Spectacular

-First picture is my parents and some friends of theirs on a hike up Mt. Sanai (as in the burning bush & the 10 Commandments).

-The second picture is my dad in what is called a tuk-tuk - essentially a tiny little 3 wheel taxi. He was in Bangkok for a conference.

A Hurting Unit! (long post)

So, Dan Cassidy and I did the Shelburne Half-Marathon this morning. We decided a couple weeks ago we'd do this just to try out a longer distance running race. In fact this was Dan's first ever running race. Hip-Hip-(you say Hooray!).

Fellow bikers/ex-bikers Jason Baer (Kenda-Raleigh team), Kevin Bouchard-Hall (Young rider Jersey 2004 Tour of Georgia), and Liz Harrison (ECCC Crit Champion 2004) were all in attendance as well...which was awesome. There was probably about a crowd of 200 or so on the start line at the Shelburne Country Store at 8:00am.

Dan and I had the goal of running under 1:30. That would be 6:52 miles. I've just been running about 4-5 weeks, doing 4-5 miles every other, or every 3rd day - and it was Dan's first running race...so this seemed like a good goal. We went out nice and slowly, sitting 30-40 people back for the first mile. Then Dan started moving up a little. Things felt in the legs and the pace felt easy, so we positioned ourselves closer to the front, maybe 10 guys back.

Things continued to feel good so we moved up into a little group, maybe 50 yards back off the front group of 4. I knew there was a steep hill a couple miles into the course and told Dan we'd move up there. We followed the plan and joined the leaders at that point. Having bikers legs we had to run the downhills a little slower than the others, but having bikers lungs we could charge up the hills pretty well.

There was a long gradual downhill approaching the half-way point and Dan started to feel some real tightness in his hips and upper quads. He did the smart thing and backed it off a bit. Unfortunately the tightness continued the rest of the race - and Dan couldn't use the nice long stride he has. Still, it was great to get him into a running race and it seems like he enjoys the challenge of something new.

Meanwhile, a runner from behind surged strongly as the half-way point (as we passed my house) and he broke up the front group. One other runner from that group and myself clawed back up to the leader. We ran for several miles together, including a portion through Shelburne Farms. As we got into the closing miles the runner who had surged mid-race dropped off, and it was just two of us. I ran in second and stayed there as I felt my muscles get tighter and tighter and starting to strain a bit. I did my best to keep my stride relaxed as we approached the finish line at the Shelburne Athletic Club. I made a dash for the finish as we entered the final 400m. It worked and I crossed the finish line with seizing muscles. Literally 30 seconds after the finish I could barely walk. Talk about needing that finish line!

The best part of it all - Helen was the lead biker for the race (as in the person on a bike who rides just ahead of the runners). So, that's cool. And she did a great job too. Then, after the race there was amazing food from the Starry Night Cafe, that swank restaurant down in Ferrisburg. I could barely move my legs, but I was happy as could be as my sister, Dan, Helen, and I sat and chit-chatted on my porch. It was a short lived moment though - because I had to hop in the shower and it was off to work at the Skirack.

So, if you see me hobbling around Burlington in the next week, or hear story of such a thing, you will know why. The time was 1:21. Not amazing, but not bad considering. And wait until Dan Cassidy gets going. He putting it together, one stride at a time. Pictures to come...

Happy Halloween and P'ditty

Happy Halloween you guys. I went over to a big Halloween party with Helen. The party was over at my friend Kyle's house - Kyle works at the Skirack as well and it was a lot of folks from work there, so it was a fun crowd. This morning before I was leaving to work I opened my closet and just looked for whatever looked like it could pass for a costume. I grabbed a white thing with embroidery that my parents got for me from Bangladesh. Its sort of this robe/man-dress sort of thing. And I grabbed this crazy multi-colored vest to go with it. Sort of a Balki from Perfect Strangers type thing.

I road a Cervelo P3 (P'ditty) today for a couple hours. My friend Pete's summer boss just randomly gave Pete his P3 at the end of the summer. Pete told me to try it out, and it did, and that bike is way fast. I made it from the Mt. Philo Rd. and Spear St. Extension junction to where Spear St. and Swift St. cross in 30 minutes (riding on Spear St.).

I always find it hard to just ride easy on a TT bike. I don't know how triathletes just go out for a ride at base mile speed on a TT bike.