First Muddy Cross Race

More later about the race, but here is what my bike looked like after the race. No pictures of me yet.


Here is a shot of PFJ racing by on his new Vanilla. He was so fast that he passed me before I could get the picture. I don't exactly have a high speed digital camera...

Team ButterCup Uni's

I am going to race for the first time in our new team kits tomorrow. My back is injured (long story) and I may do horribly. But at least people will notice me there at the back....

Tired

Just feeling really tired and worn out this week. I feel like I still haven't recovered from the Cross Crusade race last weekend. Legs have been really dead feeling and my lower back for the first time in a few months has been feeling really weak with occasional dull pain. Not sure what the deal is. I was planning on doing two races this weekend, but not sure if I want to do that.

Also, Buttercup is still at the paint shop. It has been over 4 weeks. I was quoted 2 to 3. Love getting bubbled. Why does this happen so often that people over-promise and under-perform. I mean I would have done it anyway with those guys, but I wouldn't have been anxious for these last couple of weeks. If everything were this way then Christmas would be scheduled to arrive some time between early to late December but then not actually occur until late January. Ridiculous. Sorry for the rant--I am just cranky and tired.

A Couple of Pictures from Oregon Velo

Obviously there is a new picture up top tonight. The old one was from about 2 years ago. The picture up top now is my new favorite shot of me. Ever. At least in so far as I can remember. I look intense!

Anyway, here it is again and then I found another one on the Oregon Velo website where I am right on some guys tail. I like it too. Basically I like any picture of my where you can't see a big gut on me.

Sherwood Cross Video

I am in this near the 2:15 mark or so--pink jersey following an older guy and then squeezing through to pass a small group of spazzes that got off to walk up the short incline.

Sherwood Misery

First off, thanks to everyone that yelled my name, or yelled out "Fatty" (I was wearing my Fat Cyclist jersey). I loved it and it does help keep you going.

I actually look happy in the picture next picture...I think Mr. Broken-Elbows-Spears was yelling at me to show some teeth or something. He took it near the crest of the worst of the hills on the course. The juniors race at the same time as us. Look the the face of the kid nearest me...he doesn't look like he is too happy does he? I think he is giving me a crusty!

Pictures...

Let me think back on the race for a second or two...

yeah, it was a brutal course. It hurt me. One of the worst beating a course has ever put on me.

The thing is that facially, it didn't seem to be that big of a deal. The rain this week seemed to all dry up within the last 12 hours. Nothing sketchy except for a 3 or 4 inch low branch or root that caused numerous people to come to a complete halt or to fall for some odd reason. Anyway, the course was brutal in other ways. It was very fast in sections, but every one of those sections was choppy and made me feel like I was on an irregular jackhammer. Irregular as in the chop had no rhythm to it, other than the beat of pain.

There were flat to slightly uphill sections that, of course, were choppy. Those are tiring to do at speed. There were three pretty good uphill sections that put the hurting on. One was near the end of course and I have a hard time putting into words my exact feelings with regard to that section. On the second lap I came closer than I ever have to puking while riding. I was ready to blow.

Here is quick lap by lap synopsis:

First lap: I felt good, lots of people passed me on the second half--the uphill half--of the lap, including PFJ. He started near the back and I was about 1/3 of the way back. Basically, I had a good head start on him. When he passed me before I got to the end of the first lap I was very disappointed. I figured it to be another tough lonely day at the office if guys from near the back had already passed me.

Second lap: Felt good at first and then the wheels really started to feel like they were coming off on the steepest of the hills. This is the lap where I felt like breakfast was going to come up. I was dizzy for a short bit too. I didn't look at the sign that showed how many laps to go as I completed this lap and that was probably a good thing. Had I known after 2 laps that there were still 3 to go I would have been disheartened. Each lap was 2 miles long and a 10 mile race in 45 minutes on that course seemed cruel. There was just not enough places to rest on the back half for me.

Third lap: Pretty much a blur to me as I write this so I believe that this was the lap that I started to feel pretty good. Briefly. Sure, it still hurt real bad, but relatively speaking I was doing just fine. Even on the killer hill I did ok. I secretly hoped that whole lap that there would only be one more...but as I neared the finish line to complete that lap I saw that there were still 2 to go.

Forth lap: I was praying to be lapped. "Please let me have a flat tire, a mechanical, or please the the race leader be fast enough to bail be out so I don't have to do another one of these laps...." I think I said this over and over again in my head. And I thought that I could always go slower (I actually passed a couple of guys during this lap that were in my category), I don't have to nearly kill myself out there. I could make it less painful. But for some reason I can't, I just go as hard as I can which is generally to the point just shy of heart attack. As it was, I felt guilty as it was for not being able to push it more. There were several times were I thought that I could have picked up the pace a bit more. I probably couldn't have--I was hurting pretty bad all over, legs were cramping, back was killing, etc. Still, I berated myself for being mentally lazy and not trying to pick the fastest lines and whatnot. Surely, I could spin a little faster or get in a smaller cog on the cassette I would think. These thoughts occurred almost concurrently as the "please, somebody crash into me, please let my chain break, please let my tire get sliced..." thoughts so that I could pull out of the race guilt-free. Weird.

Fifth and Final lap: At the end of the 4th lap I saw that I still had a lap to go. I was dejected that I was still on the lead lap. What a hoser! Dejected because I was fast enough to be on the same lap as the best Master B's! There was a time not long ago when I wasn't fast enough to be on the lead lap in the beginner class. But muddled was my thinking in that pain-filled fog. Once I got my mind around the fact that I was doing another lap like-it-or-not, my attitude improved. I tried to enjoy everything as best I could. I would think, "this is my last time going though this "S" turn, I better pick a good line" or "pedal hard down this hill, bumpy or not, don't worry about trying to save anything else" and even after the last time up that killer hill I still passed a couple of guys. I do well on last laps...it is just those second to last laps that do a number on me mentally.

The preliminary results showed that I finished 90th out of 117 starters. PFJ finished not too far ahead of me despite passing four laps earlier. He was 83rd I think. I bet the bottom 10 or so had mechanical issues, so maybe 105-ish racers finished the race. 90th out of 105... believe it or not, that works for me. Being out of the bottom 10% of the finishers would be a nice improvement. PFJ said before the race that this course didn't play to our strengths...it was not technical, it was hilly, and it was very choppy. This was all true, yet, I feel I had a good race. For the first time this season I didn't have to stop to fix my chain twice or even once--and I felt totally spent and gave pretty much everything I had. Now I just need to continue to lose weight and keep riding during the week and perhaps I can continue to improve.

Predictions: UPDATED

I predict that...

...I forget something tomorrow in my rush to get to church on time with all the kids and with all of my stuff so I can go directly from church to the race. Nope, I actually had everything.

...I will make with just enough time that I don't get to warm up or anything. True, didn't get to warm up.

...PFJ (Pack Fodder Jim) will wallop me. He beat me, but I wouldn't call it a wallop.

...I will barely miss being DFL in the Master B's despite being with a pound of an all time low weight (within the past 15 years) and actually feeling pretty good. Those Master B's are just fast. Definitely, at the rear, but not really in danger of the dreaded dfl

...that for the first time my chain will NOT fall off during a race this season (please, please, please let this be true). True, Hooray!

...I will have mud on my teeth when I smile. Nope. No mud much of anywhere despite good rain yesterday.

I should have predicted that I would be really really tired. I am sore all over from one of the bumpiest courses I have ever done. ugh...

Off Topic: Mike Tyson and the Dorms

I read this article on Yahoo.com about the best sports game of all time. I drummed of memories of my college days in the dorms.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out was rated the best sports video game of all time (read the article here). I would like to point out that like the person playing on this YouTube video, I also was able to beat Mike Tyson.

Someone in the college dorms back in the early 1990's had one of the original Nintendo systems and we all spent hours playing the game. About 3 of us were able to beat Mike Tyson eventually.

One night we arrived back at the dorm after playing basketball until about 2 in the morning. We were still all pumped up and a group of 5 or 6 of us started playing Punch Out. But with a twist to make it interesting. We started playing it with out backs turned to the TV watching the game in a mirror so that everthing would appear reversed. It was still too easy. So I, or at least I remember that it was me, came up with the idea that we would play the game with our backs to the TV with the rest of us telling the player in the room when to punch and duck and so forth.

Everyone was able to beat the first chump, Glass Joe,...except for a guy named John. John was the ultra competitive guy on the floor that even in a silly pick up game would get P.O.'d if you did something like not pass to him whenever he was open. He always had to win. The rest of us were out to just have goof off a bit and blow off studying.

Anyway, John over and over again failed to beat Glass Joe. Everyone else could beat Glass Joe without seeing him everytime. John looked around at us laughing and picked the person that was least likely to have get angry or wound up, Andy, and punched him in the shoulder and stormed out of the room. Everyone started laughing even harder. I remember tears coming down my face I was laughing so hard. Even Andy was laughing. John didn't hang with us much after that, which was OK. Those were really good times...I remember them and smile.

The same can be said even now. If you take yourself too seriously, I can't take you seriously. Being able to laugh at yourself is an asset really.

Train Them Early

Colin was very interested in what I was doing. He grabbed a tire lever that was lying around and tried to help. It seems even 1 year olds love the carbon bling.

Nice Hammys

I had returned home from a training ride filled with repeats of Saltzman in Forest park. I was muddy from head to toe. I had removed my bib-knickers and was standing in the laundry room in nothing but a Craft thermal. I was in a compromising position and She had full view of my dirty lower half. Bridget commented on how muddy I was, that mud everywhere. She asked if I had fallen down. Nope, it just goes everywhere when the it flings off the tires. Then she noticed something...,"Wow, you have chiseled hamstrings!" Yes, I do. She was in awe (at least that is my take on it). I appreciated the comment of course. I mean, your wife is supposed to think you are hot, but it is nice to hear.

Just don't look at the love handles.