How I can tell if you're a friend or not when you come to our house

The one thing that seemed to stick in my mind lately is how our neighbors and I live in  this town. It's a bit different. Not like it's invaded by zombies or anything like that. Not like nobody talks to their neighbors. Far from it. It just seems like most people around here don't really use the front door.

I guess it's because every one's driveway goes to the alley in back and people normally park towards the back of their house. Or maybe because this little town we live in now has alleys and all the places I lived before didn't. It's not something I can really put my finger on. And it's not everybody.

When some good friends (Joel, Richie and James) came over last week for our inaugural Beer Run Ride (23 or so miles, stop at the awesome Rockmill Brewery, then go ride our bikes some more) everyone naturally parked in the back of our drive just past the back door. We unloaded, chatted a bit and then took off. When we got back, the guys had to leave but it just seemed to generate the thought in my head. Our friends all come to the back door at our house and a lot of our neighbors are the same.

With some of the houses, coming to the front door seems formal. That's for delivery drivers and door-to-door stuff. If you come over and head to the back yard then you must be a friend. It means you know us. You know the dogs (and aren't scared of them). You're ready to find me in the bike shed or sit by the fire (if you come over in the evening) and have a drink of your preference. It's the same around the town. Our friend across the alley would sit out in the back yard as soon as the weather is warm enough and when we'd get home on a Friday he'd encourage us over and always have a drink to put in our hand. If we head north down the alley there's the guys out behind the auto repair shop who, after hours, are out shooting the breeze and they're always open and gregarious. During the Old Timer's Festival we go and watch the old time baseball game from the garage on the alley of other friends.

Not all the houses are setup for this sort of interaction but it just seemed to highlight to me how we live and setup our living spaces. So when you come to our house I'll know how to treat you depending on what door I hear you knock at.

You're in the Army now!

Yes, long lay off since my last post. Think of it as a sabbatical. That sounds much more professional than "I was too busy doing other crap". But it all means about the same. So, without further ado, here's today's post:

Since last time I posted I raced at Smith Farms. It wasn't the best race of my life as the week prior to the race I got hit with the flu pretty darn good. Wiped out. I started making improvements on Friday and Saturday but I wasn't in top shape come race day. So it goes. However it did afford me to take second overall in the Masters division of Cap City Cross for the 2012 race season, so HELL YEAH for me. Congrats to Larry Pesyna for winning the series outright and to Jon Clouse who is a heck of a bike rider.

Next was the King's International Cyclocross race at Kingswood in Cincinnati, Ohio. That was fun to do as it was the week before the World Championship races in Louisville, KY. It was a fun course to race. I was surprised that there seemed to be a low racer turnout for this day, but an exceptionally high spectator turn out. Race went well, a few good battles as the race went on and a solid top 10 placing for me. Maybe could have been one place higher but I made a poor choice of gloves at the start of the race and my fingers where getting frostbit pretty bad and I had to stop in the pits for a glove swap. Yeah, I know - who ever heard of that? Well, another lesson learned.

Off to a good start in the Cap City kit (far right)

We hung around and watched all the racing. In Men's Elite race Neils Albert came to the states with his 5 mechanics or whatever and pretty much rode away from the field from the start but not everyone was showing all their cards. This was pretty much a warm up for the World Championships so no need to go all out. On the Women's Elite side Katarina Nash pretty much did the same thing, riding away from her Luna Pro team mate Georgie Gould, who rode away from the rest of the field herself. Some commanding performances and good racing.

The run up at Heckle Hill. Did not take the tequila shot hand up.

So racing is done, finished, kaput for the season. But that just means we'll give it a whack in a road race or two and probably some mountain bike races this spring and summer, all in the name of getting tuned up for the 2013 cyclocross season. Good news is that we've brought two more sponsors on board as well as continuing our relationship with existing sponsors. Crank Brothers and SockGuy will be aiding our efforts and I'll be doing the best to represent these fine folks well.

And now to the big news. Jovid, our middle son that started out racing with me three years ago is now at Army boot camp. My lovely bride and I meet this newest bit with trepidation certainly, as well as pride. We know he will do well and are looking forward to the man that will emerge.

As always, thanks for reading.

Houston, we have a donut.

Once again it’s been a while since I’ve written much and once again I’m full of lame excuses. Well, I don’t think they are so lame. Nonetheless the fact remains it’s time to get busy going tappy-tappy-tappy on the keyboard with my fat fingers. So here goes.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving was the “Postgiving” race, Cap City Cross #5 at Darree Fields, the return.  I say “the return” because there was a race here the week before as well. Darree Fields is a large park run by the City of Dublin, Ohio & the City has been very helpful and kind to us. They even built a run-up for Cap City Cross even though they knew not of what they were building. Cap City guys just said “Hey, we’d like to do something like this” and the folks at Dublin Parks said “Well, OK”. The part of the park we got to use is pretty flat except for a few dirt mounds that were utilized. Also, most of the course area had been growing wild for some time so it was very bumpy. Sometimes cyclocross courses are not all smooth and groomed. Hey, that’s a part of ‘cross!

Unknown rider on run-up at Darree Fields. Photo courtesy Susan Hackett

I was feeling pretty fair prior to the race, not wonderful. Took off to a great start and only let a few guys slip by. Held on to the wheels of several guys that I normally don’t hold on to (seeing a pattern here?) and came home with an 8^th place. It’s better than previous years & judging by the folks I was able to stay with most of the race my overall performance is improving over last year even if the standings don’t really sound like it.

Teammate and bluesman extraordinaire, Rich Hamrick. Photo courtesy Susan Hackett

This past Saturday, the 8^th of December 2012, had Cap City Cross returning to Big Run Park once again. Usually Big Run is earlier on the calendar so it was going to be interesting to see what returning to it later in the year meant. This year it meant wet, soggy, muddy conditions. Big Run is hard enough because it’s a hill built to race soap box derby cars on. We, however, had to race our bikes UP the hill. But not just on the pavement. Oh no, those guys who laid out the race course had us coming up the side of that hill straight on, diagonally, across – any which way they could torture us. Add in two days of rain before the race and there was a lot of slipping and grunting to get up that hill multiple times a lap.


Just a small portion of the race course.

Big Run was a race that prior to the start I was ready to blow off. The long & short of it is that I was getting burnt out. Burnt out from helping to set up courses, trying to race, tear down everything afterwards, squeeze in bike maintenance, work some really long hours & maybe get a bit of training in. Oh yeah, there’s this whole family thing.

Chris Knapp and Rick Voithofer coming up the hill. Photo courtesy Susan Hackett

In any event I rolled up to the starting line and… Whoa, hey!... I was off to a great start! Time to get my head back in the game. Go, go, gadget legs! Big Run as a course seems to suit me well with the steep climbs & wide turns where you could ride multiple lines. I was in the top three by the time we crested the soap box derby hill and with some changing places managed to stay there until I hit a slippery spot on the course and fell straight into the course tape. It took a bit of time to get the stake and tape out of my wheel so I lost contact with Jon Clouse and Andy Hague. I tried to get back to them and was making up a bit of time but not enough. Guess I had to settle for third. What? Yeah, finally, after three years of racing I finally hit the podium! Now to win one of these things outright.

For those about to rock...  Photo courtesy Susan Hackett

The season is winding down with only one race left on the Cap City Cross calendar. Sure, there’s Nationals in Madison, WI or I could return to Master’s Worlds on Louisville, KY at the end of January but I think given everything else on my dance card this upcoming Cap City Cross race at Smith Farms will be it for me. Sort of a bummer as I’m really starting to make some improvements. Then again, I need a reason to look forward to next year, right?

Short visit to North Bend Rail Trail

A few weeks ago I had the fortune of being able to stop mid-work travel and put in a short ride on the North Bend Rail Trail. Here's photos of a few of the many tunnels you'll see along the way.



Ooh, it's spooky dark! Tunnel #8 entrance



Don't know who thought spray painting the sign would be cool. Probably some kids. Ugh.



Tunnel #7 entrance is a little cleaner. Wonder who they paid to sweep the leaves from the trail over here?




Nice autumn day. Trail here was built up over a ravine or hollow or whatever they call it around here. Great scenery, whatever it is.



More racing, more sponsors. More cyclocross goodness!

With more racing and training than the last several years it leaves me less time to pound away at the keyboard like so many monkeys looking to finish that last sequel to Shakespeare. Nonetheless it is my duty to try to keep up so here we go.

The annual Uncle Steve’s Halloween race: As it is with every year, Uncle Steve’s means dressing up in your Halloween costume and having a good time – nay, a great time. The weather never seems to quite cooperate and this year wasn’t much different. Chilly temps started the day with threats of rain that were fulfilled during our race (Masters). It dampened the ground (turning spots into greasy slippery or all out mud-holes) but it didn’t dampen our spirits. My Cyclocrossworld.com teammate Rich Hamrick got halfway through the race and at the far side of the course found he had a completely flat tire. The decision of running with bike back to the pits OR calling it a day and getting to the barley-pop drinking early resulted in NOT running to the pits. 

The CX-Rated Cowboy. Photo courtesy of Meredith Gabriel

I did go out in full regalia, as a CX-Rated Cowboy. It being a play on “CX” being standard abbreviation for “cyclocross” as well as a local band that goes by “The X-Rated Cowboys”.  All was well and good but multiple times I had to stop and fix my chaps until I gave up fixing them and just stopped and took the time to take the chaps off so I could finish the race. This of course did not yield the best finishing results. Nonetheless this was a fun race with full on hand-ups of the adult variety. 

Displaying my assets. Photo courtesy Meredith Gabriel

After that we (Rich Hamrick and I) headed over to participate in the Kings’ Cross/Lionheart Invitational race, part of the Cincinnati UCI3 races. The UCI3 is a full weekend of big-deal racing and are top-notch events. Once again Rich had horrible luck, this time in falling onto a barrier during warm-up. Landed squarely on his thigh and created a huge bruise. He started the race in a massive amount of pain and while he couldn’t generate much power in being so wounded, he never gave up and finished the race. Kudos, mate.

Early in the day, before racing. Love that Unicorn. It's located on Heckle Hill.

I didn’t fully commit until the Thursday night before (about 9pm). I knew this mean I was not going to get a good call-up (starting place was way in the back row). However, on the Friday before I just made up my mind that Saturday was going to be a good day to race. I start in 86^th place and it started to rain during my race (Cat 2/3 Masters 45+ & Cat 3 Masters 35+) making the course very slippery in spots. Staying upright was the main plan. I only fell three times. I had a decent start and slowly worked my way up from 86^th to a finishing placement of 47^th. Now 47^th place is normally not something to brag about but having passed almost 40 other racers I’m going to call it a good day. Cold, wet, muddy – that’s a good race day!

The run-up at Heckle Hill. Photo courtesy Julie Sroka

This past weekend was supposed to be back in the Columbus, OH area for Darree Fields #1 on the Cap City Cross schedule. However there were a few issues we ran into while setting up the race course and Cap City Cross felt it best to postpone the Sunday, Nov. 11^th event in order to make sure we have all the details squared away.  Please watch the website (www.capcitycross.com) for updates.

In the meantime we’ve also picked up a few more sponsors. Fluid (www.livefluid.com) is a maker of exercise and recovery drink mixes that I buy and am now very happy to be associated with. Beljium Budder (www.beljumbudder.com) are makers of an all-natural anti-chaffing cream. I’m certainly in favor of their all-natural angle but the product has to work which Beljium Budder does well. Along with IgY Nutrition, Feed The Machine and Duro Tires I think this year will finish up quite well.

Next week we may be back to racing, maybe in two weeks. In the meantime, be sure to thank a Veteran for their service on this Veteran’s day. Thanks for reading.

State CX Champs, Uncle Steve's, . . and new sponsors!

Recent recap!
Let's start with Ohio State Championships. Two Days in Dublin, it's called. Because it's held in Dublin, Ohio (a Northwest suburb of Columbus) and because it takes two days. Clever, eh?

Saturday, 20-October was the age group races; Juniors, Masters, that sort of thing. This was one of the main focuses of my race season. Quick summary - while not quite as strong as I had hoped to be I was stronger than last year by far. Several laps in and my rear derailleur decided to not work any more, so to the pits and swap for the pit bike. Chase back on and I'm doing alright. With a quarter of a lap remaining I lose half the air in my rear tire. The back of the bike is squirrelly as all get out. Duncan Spillman, who I just fought so hard to get by, then gets by me. But I'm not giving up, I'm trying to go as fast as the bike will allow. Duncan slows down on the finishing stretch and I put in a hard sprint to try to get around him and the chain breaks. Kaput. At least I can coast through the finish and not have anyone else pass. Finish up 10th place in my age group. Hey, top 10 for the Cyclocrossworld.com team.

Photo courtesy Susan Hackett

Sunday the 21st of October was the Category races. This year I was bumped up from Category 4 (Beginners) to Category 3. That in mind this was my first State Champ race in this group. Started off feeling pretty bad but after a few laps my legs started to come around and carry my sorry butt around the race course. Slowly I was gaining on folks that last year I couldn't hold on to, including being able to pass my coach in the closing laps. Finish with a 16th place. I'm good with that. What floored me was hearing how many people complimented me on how strong I was riding this year. I certainly appreciated how many folks recognized my efforts and really didn't know how to answer it. So, to everyone who noticed - wow, thank you!

Photo courtesy Susan Hackett

 Next race was Uncle Steve's annual Halloween race as held by Cap City Cross. As usual this means folks dressed in costumes, fun and frivolity. Not to mention it's not considered the most serious race of the year. First thing about this is THANK YOU UNCLE STEVE for letting us use your private property to ride our bikes around and tear up your grass. Always the gracious host and we appreciate it.

This year I went as a CX-Rated Cowboy. It is a play on "CX" being commonly used as shorthand for "cyclocross" as well as a reference to a local band called "X-Rated Cowboys". Hopefully I didn't embarrass the Cyclocrossworld.com folks too much. And them chaps I wore proved to cause interference with the chain multiple times until the wardrobe malfunction caused me to just stop and take the chaps off. Yes this means that I lost a bunch of time in the race but again I should remind you that it's not considered the most serious race of the year. Add to this the weather starting as cool with temps falling. The rain started during our race and the track got muddy and very slick in spots.


On the bike displaying my... ahem... assets. Told you I was a CX-rated cowboy! Photo courtesy Meredith Gabriel

Letting it all hand out! Photo courtesy Meredith Gabriel


The tires did the best they could do to hold me upright but there were spots where I could have used more traction. Nonetheless I ended up with a 7th for the day. Better than that was the fact that so many good people were out, dressed up & having fun. To all those folks who came out to race, cheer, heckle - you rock! 

I know, a cowboy with a didgeridoo is a bit disjointed. Photo courtesy Meredith Gabriel.

Next line of business is the new sponsors. I certainly need to say thank you to Igy Nutrition, Duro Tire and Feed the Machine. I'm looking forward to a long working partnership with these fine companies and of course I urge you to check them out. Time to get back on the stick and do well for these fine folks.
As always, thanks for reading.

It's the wind up... and the pitch!

Ah yes, cyclocross season in firmly underway! And long time, no update. Gah. I need to stay on top of this…

To sort out the business end of things; I’m racing for the www.Cyclocrossworld.com Grassroots team along with Rich Hamrick for the extent of cyclocross season. A tip of the hat to these gentlemen for opening their door to us as it’s a great program that they have. Rest of the time I’m riding with Cap City Cycling and many thanks to the great guys here also.

First race was Cap City Cross opener at Lobdell Frisbee Park. This is always one I’m on the fence about. It is a fun course to ride because there’s three “tiers” which makes for some hard climbing and some screaming fun downhill. However because it’s so stretched out it’s not the best for spectators. Nonetheless it was time to get to business. Racing in the Masters race I had a great back and forth battle with Scott Murschel (BioWheels). He’d get me on the uphill and I’d make the tires stick on the downhill and get back past him. Then on the flats to the Start/Finish I’d put in an effort to gap him and he’d either jump with me or slowly reel me in on the ascent. Also, I have to thank Rich and his son for one of the most pro-level bike hand ups at a Cap City event. Didn’t like the way the Fuji was handling with the tire setup I had so I went to the backup bike. Great plan because I was really able to rail the downhill bits; including carrying so much speed into the bottom 180 Left-hander that I had my left foot out Moto-X style.  Overall a fun, hard race. While I didn’t have the finish I would have liked I found that I was riding stronger than last year. I guess all this “training” stuff is really helpful after all.

It could be worse...

Second race was at Caser’s Ford Park in Xenia, Ohio. This was the third race in the OVCX series and as always, OVCX works at a high level. Caser’s Ford is a park that hasn’t been used in five years and contains a large outdoor amphitheater. By laying fallow for so long it meant that the ground was not smoothly packed down – a very bumpy course with soft grass that wanted to take whatever strength you *thought* you had in your legs and pull it straight down to the earth. Again I was racing in the Men’s Masters Division, this time it was Category 2/3. As a newly minted Cat. 3 I have a ways to get to the front of this pecking order let alone with the Category above. Ultimately this means “get out there, race your butt off and you’ll get there.” Definitely had me racing above my comfort zone. Again I have several gentlemen that we traded places with throughout the race and in the last three or four laps I was able to reel in some.  I may not always be racing for podium; there is someone that I’m always racing against.  I have to say that in the first two laps there was a section that had my legs hurting so much that I thought this was going to be the race where I pulled the plug. Glad I didn’t. The legs came around. Besides, our slogan is “Die First Then Quit”.  While my finish reflects me being off towards the tail end I can see that I am indeed making progress.

Third was Cap City Cross race #2 at Alum Creek beach area. This ain’t no beach blanket bingo. Annette and Frankie can’t hang. Unfortunately neither could I as I had to catch a flight out to Tucson at the same time that the Masters race was to start. Grrr. So I didn’t get to race but this didn’t mean I stayed away. As part of the Cap City Cross group I wanted to make sure the racing went off well. My lovely bride Catie also stepped up her involvement with Cap City Cross and is now working the registration process.  I’m proud and thankful for her willingness to help. 

While it is a bit painful to watch and not be participating it was fun to watch so many of my friends race so well. It was of course frustrating to seem some good folks not have the race that they were capable of for whatever reason. I enjoyed watching my Cyclocrossworld.com team mate Rich is his back and forth battle, I just wished it would have played out with him coming out ahead. This course had racers hitting the beach area twice. If you thought running was difficult in the sand you ought to try riding your bike in it. And the wind –Holy Wa, the wind! It was brutal. Not to mention when you hit the sandy sections you were headed straight into the gales. Double brutal.

Up next is State Championship races at Coffman Park in Dublin, Ohio. While I am going to miss the age-group races on Saturday, October 20^th I will be racing on Sunday the 21^st in the Category 3 championship race.  It’ll be demanding and fun I have no doubt. Hope to see you out there as this is a great course to be a spectator at and lots of great people will be there.

Thanks again for reading.