Looking for a ‘cross contract?

Look no further:

http://www.raleighsummerevent.com/cyclocross.aspx

This is a really great opportunity for someone and I know some people going- good luck BTW!  But, it’s really odd to me. The propogation of ‘cross towards more and more of a summer sport is a big turnoff. I like that nationals are falling in line with the rest of the world. To me, it would make sense to keep racing on the road/mountain through October, then start ‘cross and go through Feb… but I know people are giddy and starting to glue tires now.

On the other hand, the season being what it is…if you want to be good, now IS the time to start thinking ‘cross.

Anyway, I’ll do a real update soon. Pinky swear.

Idaho Falls/Jackson Trip

We had another great trip to IF and Jackson for the Allan Butler Memorial Criterium.  Kelly will probably do an awesome post with pics from the family side. Racing wise… I was okay. Saturday night is a big deal for me. I effectively went in never having lost (been 2nd to a teammate a couple times, but that pretty much counts). Made the break and felt awesome all night. Really thought I had it at 1 to go. Then, they (as in the whole  break) got the jump on me and I passed no one before the line. That’s right, 5th out of 5.

“That’s never happened to me!”

I was more confused than bummed, as sprinting is the one thing I usually can do okay even when I’m not terribly fit and I wanted to do well in memory of our friend. Cycling is like that though. Like a few years back when I won the KOM at High U, sometimes you just get surprised even after 20 years. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good!

Sunday was awesome. Dustin attacked maybe 10 minutes into the hour long race and Daniel Bechtold from Hagen-Berman went across. That was all she wrote! There were some good guys chasing the rest of the race, but they couldn’t make a dent. Dustin got beat out in the sprint, but considering he got pulled from a crit a week earlier and it was only like his 3rd race of the year or something, I am duly impressed! The field sprint was ridiculous as guys took stupid risks for 3rd. I didn’t feel like crashing, so pretty much hid out and ended up 8th, I think.  I guess I am pretty much in risk management mode for racing now. Should have jumped ’em at 2 to go. I have the speed part down, but not the proverbial cajones, I think.

I met some cool guys and also got to catch up a bit with our friends Jared and Anna. We stayed an extra night and I visited some shops Monday morning, then we touristed around for a few hours in Jackson. Great town! It was a pretty epic drive home after that. Stopped in Bear Lake for shakes. We are definitely at full capacity with 3 kids in the wagon these days, but we got through okay. Overall, awesome trip.

I love this weekend and barring some catastrophe, we’ll be back next year for sure.

SLO Trip

Quicky trip to San Luis Obispo for sales meetings. It was great overall and I am stoked on the brand (Lezyne), but the trip home was a bit of a comedy of errors.

1) Flight from SLO (smallest airport ever- seriously, I thougth the planes would be remote control) to LAX- no problems

b) 3 hour lay-over increased to 3.5 hours due to plane running late

2) It was the last flight into SL,UT and the bus to the long term parking sat for five minutes after me and one other guy got on. Seriously, the place was a ghost town at 1 am and we’re just sitting there, idling, of course.

d) Got off at the wrong stop…forgot where I parked. LUCKILY, I ran into my car within a couple minutes. Seriously, the parking lot is huge so if I’d have been way off, I’d still be there.

4) Went through the self checkout and the card reader didn’t recognize my credit card. Awesome. Went over and visited Toll Booth Willie and crew. They spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out the issue, trying all my other cards, etc, before finally just charging me.  The expression on the driver’s face of the car behind me was priceless. Not quite worth it, but funny all the same.

Luckily, the drive home was uneventful, although an hour in the jeep at that hour was mildly painful. Got in a little after 2. Thankfully, Haley slept (90% of the time, she’s the early bird of the house) until 7.

We’re off to Idaho Falls tomorrow for the Allan Butler Memorial Crit. Form is iffy, but I am always motivated for that one, so we’ll see how she goes. Heading to Jackson on Sunday for another race and then spending part of the day visiting dealers there on Monday too before heading out. This will probably be one of the last road trips we do as a family in the wagon as soon we’ll have too many bodies for the number of seats! Not sure how we’ll overcome that, but it’ll have to work itself out.

Where were we?

The week kinda flew out-of-control. When we left off, the dogs had been hit by a dump truck. Remarkably, they both seem to be recovering and are just about back to their old selves. I believe in miracles.  Just look around, they are everywhere.

Morgan fell off her scooter and knocked her head pretty good. 3 stitches.

Sleevie won the first race of the weekend and then promptly crashed and smashed his arm/elbow into a million pieces.

And, devastatingly, a local racer, David Thompson, crashed on Wed. night and died from the injuries. Rest in peace.

Kelly did a nice synopsis of our spring/early summer. All these events lead to quite a bit of introspection for me. I wrote a post where I basically quit racing. And then deleted it.

I don’t know when I’ll quit racing, but it won’t be today. And as long as I can ride, I will.

Here’s to a more relaxed week. Be safe out there everybody.