Cass and I are spending our first complete weekend in Auburn together! It is weird to think that we have been here for three months and haven’t both been in town at the same time for an entire weekend…
I just saw this on TV.
Ridiculous! But wait, there’s more! A free book light and you can wear it to sporting events…
How can I say no? Maybe this will be a new fad to keep spectators warm during ‘cross races.
The cross season is winding down for me and I only have three races left. The combination of my friend, Mr. Parasite, that I brought home from Mexico wiping me out for first month of the season and the team only being able to focus on one of the main series has made this a weird cross season. I’m stoked that I am finally getting back to full strength and am looking forward to the last races of the year. Last weekend was a muddy one in New Jersey. As usual Dave did a stellar job in the pit and kept my bikes running. Apparently there weren’t enough pressure washers to go around so he used his MacGyver like skills and dunked my bike in the lake every lap to clean it!
The Jersey mud…
…made me long for more socal sun from the previous weekend.
Last week actually concluded my cyclocross training for the year and this week is a rest week. Rest weeks are awesome. #1 agrees and has decided to declare this a rest week for herself. She’s much better at resting than I, and is pulling double nap days. Apparently she dreams of bacon too…
Since her beach cruiser was stolen in the Haven, Cass has been without a bike. So with the help of Bob at College St. Cycles and the boys at Williams Wheels, she got her first road bike last week and we took it out for some hot laps. I have plenty of pictures, but need to get approval before I post them… ah who needs approval… I live life dangerously…sometimes… Here they are.
The old vs. new bike:
Yes it is that time of year again, #1’s birthday month. Every year this celebration seems to grow. When we first started to date, a simple happy birthday card and party on the actual day would do. Somehow I have been persuaded that an entire day, month, one month until the day, and now season are to observed and celebrated…
Here’s a photo from last year’s celebration… I hope that this year’s birthday celebration requires me to go somewhere fun like the Carribean again.
Happy Birthday month!
I’m off to Northampton. And yes mom, my schedule page has been updated.
The USGP kicked of this weekend in Louisville, KY. It was the first time our three man Sonic/Louis Garneau cross powerhouse team was all in one location. It was like my third Christmas of the year, with first being the real Christmas and the second is when road training camp starts. Both of these bicycle related christmas’ begin by me leaving the house with nothing and return with a suitcase or two full of team and sponsor gear. The look on #1’s face is always priceless upon my return. Actually it is more an eye roll than a look, maybe I’ll try to capture digitally when I return tonight. Speaking of sponsors, I have some awesome support this season. Without turning this into too much of a commercial here is my short NASCAR style sponsor shout out. The number #11 Crank bros., SRAM, FIZIK, Smith Optics, Van Dessel was awesome today. The boys brought new bikes straight from the shop but and chose to use the vintage ‘07 season kit hoping it would bring us some luck. During practice we were a little tight entering the corners and loose on the run up so we made some air pressure adjustments to the Challenge tires and added spikes to the Mavic Yellow Furys which seemed to cure the problem. Late in the race we made a tough call and on a green flag stop switched to Van Dessel #2. The others opted for track position while we took two tires. We were hoping that the combination of a green white checked and ultra deep dish Shimano carbon wheels would lead us to victory lane. It didn’t work out to be the right decision, but hey that’s racin’.
I came across this quote in the book that I am currently reading that perfectly describes one the observations that #1 and I have made since our relocation to nor-cal. “This is not California, where your car accounts for fifty percent of your personality.” After becoming accustomed to not using our car while in the Haven it is shocking how sad, but true this passage is about Californians and their cars, especially their big trucks.
Up next: The Cycle Smart International in Northampton, MA.
Is the intoxicated Vermont local pictured below with the American flag:
A) Spraying us with a fire hose B) Emptying his bladder C) Showering us with champagne to celebrate the Garneau-Sonic boys leading the race
If you haven’t heard, white is the new black for ‘cross.
Thursdays at Jonez world always produces fun times. #1 has the day off and my training schedule is light so we have plenty of time to hang out and relax before I ship off for the weekend. Yesterday, however, was an exception… An hour spin on the cross bike in the morning yielded a rear flat tubular. No problem, right? Usually a quick call to cass for a wheel and I’d be on my way, but not yesterday. For some reason her phone decided to die so I rode an hour home with a flat. We then headed to the local hardware store to pick up a couple of nuts and bolts for my annual bike case rebuild. While in the process of proclaiming, “Wow, check out the size of this bolt!” #1 dropped said huge bolt on my big toe. ¡*#£¥€@$!!! I then limped/ crawled back to the car and we headed home for a much needed nap. Before napping I had to fullfill one of my domestic duties and rotate the laundry. As I reached up and pulled the laundry soap down, the iron decided to attempt a suicidal jump only to have its plung to a certain death interupted by my face. Yes, just like a looney tunes episode the iron landed smack on my face…
The upside of these episode was Cass felt so bad for me that she took me to Mexican food for dinner. I couldn’t walk or open my mouth to eat but it looked like she enjoyed the food.
I’m off to Vermont for the Catamont race weekend… the season of hour long chaos is about to begin. Warm up the cowbells because cyclocross season is here my friends.
Finished up with USPro. At this rate in seven years I’ll win the thing…man I’ll be old!
My teammate I-mac is heading to the Havizzel with me for a few days. I will have to introduce him to the LCC goodness at Claire’s and the speed of the SG ride. Too bad #1 has that whole job thing and will miss out on all of the fun.
The days following a stage race are usually made up of traveling home and a couple days of recovery rides. After hitting the trails yesterday I decided I needed a nice little spin for this morning’s session and headed out on the big bike. While cruising around the new hood I was reminded of how friendly motorcyclist are. Almost every person I saw gave me The Wave during my originally planned short spin turned house cleaning procrastination session. As a cat 5 biker the wave always catches me off guard and puts my minimal skills to the test. There are so many questions on how to wave and look cool, do I wave in turns, at every motorcycle, how low do I extend my hand below the bars? #1 laughs at me every time we encounter the wave because as she puts it, I “wave like a dork.” The only I see to overcome my wave ‘dorkiness’ is to ride the big bike more…
Tour of Utah has been going fairly well for TT1. Chaddy is 3rd overall heading into the last stage tomorrow. I feel like I have been breathing through one of those red stir stick straws all week. For some reason the altitude is killing me. I am looking forward to heading back to sea level on Monday. Two more weeks to get in shape for USPro.
Jonez world news headlines:
-#1 joins the working world on Monday.
-Jenny Hullinger turned 27 yesterday.
