Cyclocross at 7-mile

Opener was today. Even though I didn't race, I had a pretty good time.

Bill arrives for his first race.

Steph. Rocking the run-up.

Mark and Scott. Well-matched.

Glen portaging beers and brats.

Maddie

Camp Run-up

Brian. That color is "Kawasaki Green"

Jon's first race.

1994 RB-T. (Phil's)

John Stone.
3rd in Cat 4.

Dig Tom's smile. This is nearing the end of his second race.

Jon. Jordy looking on.

Bill wrecked in a magnificent ball of dust and glory on a fast corner. Then sprinted to beat this guy at the finish line.

Hank (his camera took all these pics)

Louie. (Pic by Hank.)

Steph's new Elephant

Maddie and I stopped by Glen's today to press a headset and drop off some Maddie-school-fund-raiser-chocolate.

And there stood Steph's new Elephant CX bike. Good god. That is the best paint combo yet. And it's no accident. Apparently Steph really wrung her brain finalizing the decal color. It's striking. I so dig it.

The crappy cell phone camera shots don't show the nice brown that the paint is. It's called bronze. But it's just a really nice chocolate-ish brown. Lovely.



Since Steph wasn't there we got to try it out. Maddie stood over it. She's got a bit of growing to make it work. But my pea brain got burning pretty hot thinking about Maddie-Elephant solutions as I stared at this bike. I also took it for about a 20 foot ride.

Cool fact: the rims are from Glen's Bontrager days -- they are Super Champions that were rolled down from 700c to 26" in the Bontrager garage many moons ago. Sweet.


I'm not sure if he's going to keep these rims on there or build her up a new set with AeroHeat rims and pull-through hubs (which were damn light). In any case, Steph will be rocking a bitchin wheelset.

It's probably against some blogging law to post pictures of someone's bike before the someone has even seen it. It's at least bad form, but I can't help myself and Glen said it was ok.


Hopefully Steph will be racing this bike tomorrow. And hopefully she'll post a report here when she's done. No pressure though!

Cyclocross At Liberty Lake

The skies were cloudy but the rain held off. It was a good day for racing. Here are a few shots.

The sand before and after going through the lake was tedious.
Stephanie going through the lake.
The great leap forward.
From those that reacted, the water was very cold.
More sand.
It was great to see racers of all ages and skill levels.

2010 SSCXWC

Sasquatch took it slow and easy, as to not miss any beer handups. Tighty whities are suitable for any occasion

Mexican wrestler was the kit of choice for the Raliegh guys.

Dylan, lumberjack version. Note lack of chain on bike. He ran a lap or so, then somebody gave him a tiny ridable bike to finish on.Sorry, ladies...this one's already taken.

This guy is not getting his deposit back. And yes, there is a helmet under there.

CDA CX

This was my best race yet this season. I don't know how I placed -- but I'm thinking I may have broke the 20's! We'll see tomorrow.

I think I'm finding my pace. Since I'm not battling it out for the podium, I can let myself find a good sustainable pace instead of pushing 100% for the first 30 minutes, then blowing up for the last 15-20 minutes. I held up pretty good today and didn't get passed a bunch in the second half. That's improvement.



The course today was oddly technical in that there were big sections of deep sand. They were sucky killer awful energy suckers, but I could ride them out. Many guys were running through, which suits the runners. Running never suits me, so by weighting the rear wheel and hydro-planing the front wheel I was able to ride these lame-ass sections out.

Otherwise, the course was pretty straight up. It rained all night and then rained off and on today so it was pretty messy. Not deep-mud-messy, but slickery muddy alternating with sandy mud. The obligatory post-race bike pic tells all:

Sorry about the pics. I took them. Liza didn't come out today. Racers at the top were in Cat 1-3 race; I don't know them.

Maddie and her buddy, Kate, joined me today. They were rad. They cheered me on super enthusiastically during my race (with bells and everything... "GO DADDY!" -- that shit really helps). But before and after my race they worked on their "dam."

Good times.

I'm really trying to figure out a way to angle next Saturday's race in Walla Walla. Sunday is a no-wayer, but there's a sliver of hope for Saturday if a bunch of stuff lines up.

CX in Moscow

Another fun race.

Great course. Fast with technical bits.

Liza came with me and took a bunch of pics. So there's lots of John pics here. It's my blog so I can do that. Isn't that the point?

I'm smiling because of the carnage behind me. I wasted this luxurious padding though by wrecking about a lap and 1/2 later. Then two chain mechanicals. Frustrating. But it's nice to have these kinds of events in my back pocket when I finish in the mid-20's. Yes. This is Cat 4.

Great course. Perfect day. I think it was about 55F.

That's Tom there on the Elephant. He's racing Cat 4 after he races the Masters. Good lord.

There's Mr. Copus. He's doing the same thing: two races. I guess that's what I have to look forward to next year when I'm 40.

Justino. A close look will reveal that he's on an RB-T too. He passed me at about lap 3 or so.

Justin, dude, me. Fun section.

The run-up was a small flight of stairs. It was the easiest run-up I've done. Not that I've done that many, but this was pretty easy. So was the obstacle. The rest of the course was really fast, so that made up for it.

Happy fun times. Next week is Coeur d'Alene. Maddie and I will be representing.