Wake Up, Kick Ass, Repeat
Sleep well cycling fan the UCI is cleaning up the sport. One less vegetarian mountain biker making our sport look bad. Manny Saiz has his Pro Tour license, Basso has signed a fat contract with Discovery, and Tyler and his Chimera will probably get a deal soon. Yup everything is under control.
Yesterday was kind of a whirlwind of playing catch up from the big weekend. I have a few more nuggets from Boulder.
Friday I stayed at Mike Flynn’s house. I raced and traveled with Mike and his team mate Patria (More on her later) at Bisbee and Gila. Anyway I have now mooched his guest room twice since then, maybe he will hit me up for a ski trip this winter. That night we went to a birthday party for his girlfriend Nancy (who he met last time I was there). It was at a really cool Irish pub, bummer for me since I had to race the next day. So to entertain myself I tried to get into every photo taken that night. I can just imagine everyone looking at their pics the next day saying “who is that guy?”. Yeah I am easily entertained.
The course in Longmont was basically flat, hard packed, and lots of turns. Since I registered late I got to line up in the back. Right at the start there was a crash (doh!) I did miss it but it did slow me down. The first half lap was the usual parade. I passed where I could and tried to be patient. There was a slight uphill on the back side that I knew I could start craking some skulls for real. That is the way the race went, follow and crack crack crack. I ended up 11th and was totally worked from the effort. The good news was that I would get called up the next day so in theory I should do better. Gallagher had a good ride and ended up 7th.
After my race the pro women went, I was doing my cool down so I did not see much of it. I found Patria and we watched the pro men. Trebon went berserk on the first lap and nobody saw him again.
Mike was in Keystone doing his ski patrol training and i was not to excited to drive back to Denver. Time to mooch! Gallagher and Thomas were staying at a friend of Jon’s in Boulder. I explained my dilema to Jon and he said he would call his friend’s Jimmy and Chris to see if I could crash at their place. Good news, they said yes. After driving around Boulder for a while we found the place. It is this killer A frame high on the bench with a killer view. After everyone ets cleaned up we head to the Boulder Beer Brewery where there is a party for the Fast Freddie Foundation. Turns out the “party” is a fund raiser and the hot girls at the door shake us down for $20. This gets us a raffle ticket and a “free” beer. Oh well it is for a good cause. It none of won anything in the raffle but it was pretty cool. Lots of cycling “celebrities” in attendance. In addition to Fred Rodriguez (Fast Freddie himself) there was Chris Horner, Trebon (for like 10 seconds), The Luna Chix, Tim Johnson, and Tyler Hamilton (not sure if his chimera was there). I wanted to go up to Tyler with Gallagher and say “Hi Tyler my name is Art, this is my chimera Jon” but Jon didn’t think it was a good idea (probably right). Oh well.
The course in Boulder was cool. Super fast, a long run up, big sand pit and some uphill. Lots of fun(except the dumb barrier placement) for sure. After cracking so many skulls the day before I got called up in the 2nd row. Hopes were high. Unfortunatly my season of bad starts continued and I soon found myself somewhere in the 30’s again. Great. I definetly did not have the same legs as yesterday and ended up 10th. Not bad but I know I can do better. A little motor pacing and I will be good. Fitness is there, just needs some polishing.
All i allit was a really fun trip. Got to hang with Flynn and Partria. Got to meet Gallaghers coach Mike and his friends Jimmy and Chris. Got to know Spanring better. That is what makes these trips so fun is all the cool people i get to meet and spend time with.
Today Gallagher and I beat the hell out of each other motor pacing up in Heber. What an awesome day today huh? 70 in November? I will take it.
A few notes about my weekend in Boulder.
- Start in the back finish 11th, Start in the front finish 10th. Weird.
- Fun courses except they put these dumb cicanes in front of the barriers that reduced you to walking speed, thereby eliminating all skill.
- I need to get on the motor pacing.
- My Kona rocks.
- Trebon has stupid amounts of power.
- That “can you hear me now?” guy needs to spend some time in Wyoming.
- Boulder is full of uptight rich people pretending they are not uptight or rich.
Made it to Denver in record time, only stopped for gas. Filled bottles Gardie style, yaaa. Met up with Gary Wheeler for a sweet ride to open up the legs. Got a little lost on the way back to Flynn’s house but no worries I am the human GPS and after some messenger style rallying I made it.
Since The Mop say’s it is poetry Friday I made up a haiku about cross.
Hulking War Machines
Into A Battle We Ride
Crack Some Skulls and Hail
Got the bikes all dialed and the bags are packed. Tomorrow I am heading out on the highway to Boulder for the USPG. I will most likely be starting in the back as I just registered yesterday (slacker) so I hope I can put out the watts and make it to the front of the race to crack some skulls. A friend of mine sent me this article she wrote (scroll down) about caffeine and exercise. It was written for a XC ski publication but it applies to cycling as well, plus she is as they say in Maine “wicked smaat” so I guess I will be loading up on the Red Bull this weekend.
I have found a new way to entertain myself at work. Instead of sending every customer to aisle 16, I walk around and tell every employee I see “hey man, they are looking for you” and walk away. It freaks them out.
My new name is A-Train The Mighty. Don’t beg for mercy as none shall be given.
