Art O’Connor

Another year is almost over so I thought I would be like every other blog hack and publish a best of list. This list just off the top of my head so I may add to it if I think of anything else. I am just going with a “Best of” since no one wants to hear me complain and I am trying to focus on the positive lately. So, here goes.

Best Movie: Borat- It is unreal the lengths that this man will go to to
get laughs (and make a point). The irony and genius in this movie are
probably lost on your average Will Ferell fan, but then most things
are.

Best Album: Celtic Frost “Monotheist”. Every once in a while an album
will come around that perfectly encapsulates my mood or feeling at a
particular moment in time. This is one of those albums. Impossibly
heavy and dark, it was very cathartic for me.

Best Concert(S): I am going to cop out on this one and pick two. Hank
III at the Depot. Seamlessly flowing from traditional country to punk
Hank is so talented it makes me feel bad for anyone who missed this
show. Slayer/Lamb of God in Vegas. Swill came through big time with
the free tix and backstage passes. Shaking Kerry Kings hand was an
honor I won’t soon forget. Slayer may be getting a litle long in the
tooth but you would never know it form the way the play. If they ever
retire then LoG is more than capable of carrying the torch oh American
Metal. DJ “concerts”? Yeah right.

Best Race: This is a race I did not even ride in, but the Tour of Utah
was the most exciting thing to hit SLC since the Olympics. Heroic
rides from T-Bird and Louder combined with the amazing crowds at the
downtown stage made for an incredible event that will only get bigger.

Best Book: Yes I can and do read. “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”
A very interesting an eye opening book that basically details how
mega corporations have bought and paid for our “elected” leaders to
continue their empire building at the expense of the entire planet.

Best place to have a beer: Hands down The Jackalope. The word is
getting out and it actually is busy there on the weekends, but there is
a reason for that. Smoke free (are you listening Bayou?), good beer
list, super friendly staff, and great music. This is what bars should
be like.

Best Fish Taco: Oh do I love my fish taco’s. Luckily we live in a
town where I can get them 24/7. Beto’s/Alvero’s have ‘em cheap, fast
and they are almost everywhere in the valley.

Best threat(s) to Phil Ligett: T-Mac at the Tour of Utah. Hopefully
you were lucky enough to catch Terry McGuiness doing the play by play on
the radio this summer. He knows the riders and the sport like no
other. How does Al Trautwig even have a job? One of the best things
about the ‘cross series is the announcers. Sandy and Gardie emit
enough electricity in an hour ‘cross race them to power Magna for a
week. When Sandy becomes a doc he should hire Gardie to help give pep
talks to cancer patients. They could cure them with enthusiasm alone.

Biggest Surprise: I turned 40. Damn, how did that happen? I feel like
I am 20 and if you ask anyone I have ever dated I act like I am 15.
Age is only a number.

Best Road Trip(s): Another hard one to pinpoint so I am picking three in no particular order. Vuelta Sonora, Bisbee/Gila, Kanab for Thanksgiving. The locations of these trips are not important, they could have been anywhere. What made these trips special was the people I went with and met. Seriously, I could have gone to beheading in Yemen and fun with these people.(you know who you are)

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas.  Thank you all for reading and making this such a fun project for me, I am humbled by the comments and support I get from you all. Thank you.

Sorry for the lack of updates. When I was in Maine visiting my folks I was “off the grid” as far as Verizon is concerned. It was awesome to see my Mom and Dad as well as my brother and his family. Last time I was home (in Oct) my nephew was just about to turn 2 and was starting to speak a bit. Now he is pretty talkative and running all over like a little terror. He knows that at some point in the near future Santa Claus is coming with “toys for me”. I got him a sweet Tonka garbage truck, complete with a dvd featuring real garbage trucks. My mom is doing well and is a lot stronger then when I last left her. It was still hard to leave but I feel better about her condition.

My flight home was not without its problems. We were on the runway ready to take off and the captain announces that we have to go back to the gate to have a leak checked out. Bummer, was landing late enough and I really wanted to get home as I had dinner plans and I was excited to exchange gifts before she flew home the next morning. The news quickly went from bad to worse. We had to de-plane and were told that the problem could not be fixed that night. Great. Another plane was found but it would not be here for another 4 hours. Really great. Well that meant no dinner  to say the least. On the positive side, former UT State Cross Champ and current ER resident Cynthia Lodding was on my flight. Being the self involved jerk that I am I was totally unaware that she had moved out of Utah in June to do her residency. So we spent the next 4 hours talking over beer and my Mom’s fudge that I had with me. It was really cool.

Back here in UT some things that I thought were a done deal are not. Oh well life goes on.

Happy Holidays

I got spanked today.  No excuses just no legs.  I got a good start and was with the lead group of 4 but I just could not hold the pace.  I called down the thunder and barely got it to rain.  Oh well that is bike racing.  I am pretty dissapointed and know I can do better, but there are are 163 other guys in my race saying the same thing.  Mark Noble (who got 3rd last year) won, Dale Knapp (last years winner) was 4th, I was a distant 8th.  I really wanted this one and felt like I had the form to do it, the legs just were not there today.  Oh well, that is racing.  Pietrzak came about 2 inches from winning a National Title today.  He looked very impressive today and deserved to win, but again that is racing.  Sam Kreig was up near the top 5, sorry I am not sure of his final spot.  All around a good showing for the Utah Cross Series riders.

Driving out here is nuts.  Here in Massachusetts you can drive in the break down lane during rush hour.  I tried it for a while until I found out that the breakdown lanes end with no warning!  So I pulled into the “slow” lane where I was doing 85 and getting passed on the right.  Basically everyone here drives like Sly.  Yaaa.
As dissapointed as I am with this race, I did have a very fun season.  Personallty, it would have been nice to win, but more importantly I wanted to win for all the people who have supported me this year.  I don’t like to name names because I will leave someone out, but there are a few people I would like to mention.  Rod and Robin at Spin Cycle, I can’t tell you how much your support and friendship means to me.  Rob, thanks for keeping my bikes so dialed, a full season with no mechanicals. That has never happened. Willey at Kona for the best bike I have ever raced. Jeremy and Chris at Reynolds for hooking me up with the best wheels and forks on the planet. My Mom for showing me what toughness really is.  Wendy for being such a great friend and providing such deluxe accomodations for the last 2 years in Boston.  Abby, thank you keeping me company on the trainer, and for the amazing soup.  I can’t wait to see you dropping me on Big Mountain this summer.  Thanks to everyone who reads this and has left comments.  I am still amazed that anyone reads this but I am glad you do.  A big thank you to all my true friends (you know who you are).  It is hard to mope for too long knowing I have such great people in my life.

Made it safe and sound to Boston.  Bikes are in one piece and the flight was ok.  World famous size 0 activist Wendy Chao met me at the airport and we went straight to Trader Joe’s.  Back at the Chez Chao we chowed (no pun intended) on some sweet wine and cheese with some chicken stew while Chairman Meow entertained himself with my bike box.  Is goood!

Tomorrow I will drive down and get some hot laps in on the course.  It is in the 50’s here and raining so hopefully it will be a slug fest.  I am ready to rock.  To paraphrase Conan.

A Train what the meaning of cyclocross?

“To crush your enemies. To see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women.”

Yaaa

Well I am sitting here listening to my kick ass new dub cd (thanks J-Rad) reflecting on another ‘cross season that has rolled off into the sunset.  I had a ton of fun this year and was lucky enough to enjoy some good form.  No wins (yet) but still had some nice rides.  I won nothing at the season awards party.  With all the traveling I did this season I only did 5 races in the local series the so that put me out of the points chase. For the first time since I turned 35 I did not race Masters at the State Championships and since I did not crack the top 3 in the A race no mug for me.  It has been great to see the series really take off this year.  I was really impressed with the numbers in the Junior field, hopefully that trend will continue.  Big thanks to Ohran for putting on the series again.  To Sandy and Gardie for adding so much excitement and professionalism to the events.  Congrats to all the series winners yesterday, see you all next season.  Me, I have some unfinished business to take care of in Rhode Island next weekend.

Stay tuned…

posted by webmaster:

So why don’t you go choke to death on your damn designer bagel.

Did Ronnie James Dio or Gene Simmons invent the metal horns?  Dio I think.  How come gay women don’t talk with a lisp?  If the Jews really do control the media how come there are no Charlie Brown Chanukah specials?  Does Kerry King have a Christmas tree? At one point every clapped out car you see was bought new and was probably one of the proudest days of the owners life.  Does Knapp go to sleep every night with visions of riding me off his wheel like I do him?(doubtfull) How would I look with a mohawk? Is Kramer a racist?  I should start wearing a lab coat everywhere.  How come I cant get a ski helmet that fits?  How come they won’t let me drive the forklift at work? Who the hell goes to those title loan places?  I don’t care who The Mop is, but I miss his page. 

Sly has started his orange diet today.  Wish him some luck.

Its funny how the body works.  Warming up today my legs felt like ass.  Inside I smiling because I know from experience that bad warm up usually means good race.  This was my last really hard training week before Nationals so the sore legs were not a total suprise.  I was feeling pretty tough about all the intervals I did on my trainer until I saw DrX out riding the other day.  A quick look at my cars thermometer, 29.  Yeah, thats tough.  Then yesterday my friend Abby came over for a trainer session in my basement (always nice to have some company).  I made it 1:15, she rode 1:45 less than 3 weeks after surgery.  Tough. 

So back to the race.  The course was slick as snot on a doorknob, lots of ice and snow.  My kind of course.  Ohran told me that people were talking about who would do well today and no one mentioned my name which fired me up a bit.  I actually got a decent start today which was nice.  Pietrzak stacked it hard on the 1st or 2nd lap, (I had a feeling I would be seeing him again) and by the end of the 2nd lap I was in 2nd place.  When I have the legs I like to drive it and go it alone.  My best finishes always come when I race this way.  Thanks to the great announcing by Sandy and Gardie I always knew what was going on in front and behind me during the race.  Bart was gone and Pietrzak was chasing me down.  At the start of the last lap I could here on the PA that I had 8 seconds on Pietrzak.  Damn this is gonna hurt.  I stuck to my plan and kept it smooth in the turns and tried to get back up to speed quick.  It was so slick I was afraid to look back.  I knew if I got over the last barriers first it would be next to impossible for him to come around me.  Luckily I kept it upright and did just that.  Now I am prone on the couch watching X-Men 3, sipping a Lev, and letting 800mg of Vitamin I do its magic.  I wonder what Sly is doing right now…