Stage 3 tonight

Man I've been thinking quite a bit about today's race.

I am a bit of a thinking man, but when it comes to some things, like racing, I usually just gut it out.

For this stage race, it has required a bit of a mix.

Honestly, when I tweaked that muscle on the first lap of the cross race, I spent a few minutes contemplating maybe dropping out, or taking it easy and just finishing.

I went with a little more gut and stuck it out. I did better than I expected. I really thought PJ or W.1 had the potential to push me off the podium.

Anyhow, today's race will be tricky.

I've thought of a few different ways of approaching/attacking this race. I wont be able to make my final decision till I get all details on the bridge.

Very exciting, very interesting.

Cya you all out there at 8.

If you wanna drink beer and get a free glass while your at it, stop by Zax at 6pm. Summit Oktoberfest.

Giro d Ghetto - Stage 2

Photo from www.thyneighborsbike.com. Paint-shop by myself.

Ouch.

Intense.

Day started off with some pre-pre-race beer at Gingerman. The Marzen beers are in season, and Brooklyn brewing co. makes a damn good one.

We saw a little shrinkage in the race group, things were still serious.

The race was the good old fashion figure 8 course around TL.

W, EC, PJ, JM, W.1 and myself were the Major players.

JM started the game with some heat on the first leg and I joined in to get a little separation.

We did some serious work till the congress bridge.


That move grouped the major players together.

The barriers messed me up. I didn't stretch before (too busy hanging out and yaking away) and pulled some shit (I think the technical term is muscle).

This being a stage race, I tried to balance performance and preservation.

Anyhow, we kept it pretty hot, with JM falling off the back soon.

About two figure 8s in, W decides hes had enough bullshitting and books it.

We were now a chase group of four.

Some wanted to work together, some didn't.

I knew there was no reasonable chance of catching W.

I decided to work on positioning myself for a good sprint at the end.

Coming back from mopac, EC and I turned on the burners and found ourselves shoulder to shoulder at the final set of stairs before the sprint to the finish.

Remounts have been very good for me, but its a little hard with a groinular issue.

Still, EC and I were on our bikes round the same time and went for the sprint finish.

I was gaining quick near the line, but he had me in the end by less than a wheel.

Big ups EC, great last leg

Man, amazing racing.

If my abacus aided calculations are correct, this should put me in a tie for 2nd in the GC.

I feel that the alleycat may be a real game changer.

The saga continues...

Now for some hype music...

I had the luxury of seeing these Texan maniacs in a stadium and in a dive.

A little prep music...

Giro d Ghetto - Stage 1

Photo by my personal photographer: DL


Ya m'on!

Last time around in 06' I remember a smaller and just slightly different crowd.
I've got to say, there is some legit racing going on this week.
Any full finishers should be damn proud.

How to spend the day before a race? Certainly not "saving" myself for it, I did a brisk 50 miles southeast with the Sunday Austin flyers ride.

Then did a little beer drinking (with food) and went through all the Interbike Swag that my roommate hooked me up with.

I did get a little nap in and started getting ready to "do work" round 6ish.

Did my rituals and got sufficiently hyped up.

I got to the bridge on time like a total dork.

I was surprised to see the level of racer dudes there.

Had a few of my fellow cyclo-cross rabbits out there and other dudes that just looked fast as fast.

Some of these guys I had ridden with at at the ATC ride on Saturdays, which is a no joke, race pace, go fast type of ride.

Its cool, I'd rather be beat and grow than have less of a challenge.

The course was: ascend the south side, descend on the north till just before 2222, back to the top for the finish.

Now, I'm a little familiar with Bonnell. I've ridden it.....maybe...like 10-15 times. Although, I did recently start doing a little training for the Hugel, and rode Bonnell and Ladera late last week.

Ladera:


We roll out around 9ish to Mt. Bonnell.

We started at the big toe of the foot of Bonnell.

People were released 1 min apart, so I left about 3o min after the first person.

D happened to be right in front of me.

So, my ride...

I actually tried to be smart this race. I tried to manage myself and not blow up. I wanted to be consistent on both sides of Bonnell. The back side (north) is much tougher, and I think my pacing was relatively successful.

During my time trial, I caught D. Thanks homes, I go faster with a blinking red rabbit to chase!

Also, I managed to catch another rider on the final climb. Thanks dude, you really pushed me.

I finished strong, tired, but not destroyed.

Strong enough for 3rd!!!

...One second behind 2nd... When BD told me that, it was awesome (cuz the dude is faaasst) and horrible (looking where I could have made that second).

In the end, I'm super stoked.

My goal going in was to podium. Ive managed one stage, hope I can hold it to the final GC.

Ya, I suck with pictures right now. My camera is lame and getting worse, plus cool kids have nice cameras and take better pictures anyhow. I will try and borrow pics and update this 'thang.

See you tonight for the cross race!!!!

So it begins...

Tonight begins the Giro.

I need this challenge right now.

For reasons cycle-centric and not.

Alleycross race report

Alright, now that my legs are completely healed, I can speak of the horrors that unveiled themselves on 9.22.09.

It all started around 3 am that day. I could hear the tap of rain. Unfortunately, those taps went on for hours.

Similar tapping went on at the Dirt Derby venue to the tune of 1.5 inches of rain by the morning. I put up a post on www.bikemojo.com asking/poking for an update and to hint that another race may happen in place.

Around 8 that morning, the word was out. No Dirt Derby. And I already had my outfit!

Ironic. A cyclo cross race canceled because of too much rain. Well, its not the course that is the problem. It turns out that the parking lot utilizes some clay that makes it impossible for cars to leave.

The Dirt Derby folks put the notice up on their facebook page. I comment with a hint about a "black market" race.

J at atxbs was being an early bird that day as well, so I gave him the heads up and he was cool with helping us out too.

Now a little bit of stuff to convince D with, I contacted thy neighbor to see if we (and I mean 99% him) should get the ball rolling a little earlier than 2 hrs.

He agreed, and things got 'tworking.

Big ups to BD for the barrier hook up.

When I rolled up, I was impressed. Some serious bikes and serious looking jerseys. Excellent.

Oh ya, and there was D with his ballerina outfit with anatomically correct(ish) features. Hmm, wonder why no pics of that sight.

Photo from www.thyneighborsbikes.com .....watch out, that guy has an itchy litigation finger.

The racin was fast from the get go. W (the dude that leaps like a gazelle) jumped out quick and I gave chase. I was on him good for about 2 laps. When we came around to the grass mounds, he took a spill. Smelling blood, I rushed for a remount and got my little black dress caught on the nose of my saddle. This resulted in a spectacular fall.

In the first lap though, C caught a bad break....in his chain...

Soon, JM and B were closing in on me.

For the rest of the race we three would be changing places according to who dominated the various sections.

I was making my time in the area under the bridge. I was cutting some hard turns and getting the feel of how to pedal efficiently on that terrain.

www.thyneighborsbike.com

Unfortunately, W got a flat in the closing laps.

In the last stretch I was actually leading, but B and JM murdered that section. Very nice attack fellas.

I gotta admit, my shits weak in that section. I need to figure it out.

Bottom line: This stuff is the real deal. Bad ass course with more potential. Well mixed terrain. Serious and not so serious competitors. Its a blast.

I hope we start getting some spectators though. Rosewood park has a pavilion conveniently located right next to the barrier section.

Cyclebum offer: If you don't have a good time, I owe you beer.

Plus, what other bad ass shit can you go see when the weather is cross worthy?

adsljkjdsf;jkl

Looks like its gonna be a wet social ride. Lets see who all shows up.

You dont have to thank me for this.

When the pros cant get it done, get some slackers to do it.

I remember first hearing this song in the movie Menace II Society.



Heard it recently...time warp.

A Proclamation!!!

I will thoroughly train for, and give my all to try and finish The Tour Das Hugel 2009.

http://www.tourdashugel.com/

Be human, give it a try!!!

Dirt Derby

Tuesday Night.

Iz be racin' the intermediate and open CX events.

Bring your Sunday best dress...

It is ladies night...

It keeps comin

Man, there is a lot of this man's stuff on youtube. It is great.

Killer Instrumental

I love rhodes 'boards on J Dilla tracks

I agree with a few of these declarations...

Thy Neighbors Alleycross

Alright lets down to the details of the madness that was Saturday's Alleycross.

Saturday was pretty wet if you do not remember well.

I showed up at the bridge at 6:30. The drizzle started turning to the more real deal type of rain around this time. Two other dudes were there waiting. Both had cool and nice bikes, but they were not geeked out like myself.

Soon though, EC (I don't like putting people's names up) shows up with his waist sized quads. EC is hoss and has a lot of experience doing the alleycross races and Dirt Derby.

2-3 other chillin' racers and another Dirt Derby racer show up also.

Rain is legit now.

Alright, 3 dudes in leotards, and a nice handful in casual.

7pm rolls around and we head out to the course.

Now it was straight up pouring. The ride out there was great.

We stop by D's house to pick up the barriers, which afforded me the opportunity to sneak away to the store and pick up a quick brew.

The location was sweet. The barriers were set up in front of a pavilion that served as a spectator area.

The couse setup could best be described as a oddly shaped figure eight.

In the middle was the barrier section.

One loop featured the crazy contrast of thick mud and dusty dirt. The area with the dirt was dry because it was under a bridge. Tricky stuff riding fast on stuff similar to sand with your tires completely caked.

The other loop started with a curb obstacle. Then, there were two little hills to run up. Before you got back on the main straight, the loop had a section of off camber mud.

We started the fun off with a le mans style start, and the pace was hot from jump street.

The racing was good. R, is a seasoned racer started putting the hurt on me soon after the first lap. I think he got inspired when I beat him over the barriers the first time, haha.

I then figured I'd hang with EC and see if we can pace ourselves to catch him.
It turned out not to be big EC's day.

Soon, a newcomer to alleycross, and a cool guy, "B" was on our tail.

I figured its time to drop EC and see what this guy has going on.

This was fun stuff.

He owned one half of the loop, and I did better on the other and the barriers.

When we would pass one way, he would lead, the other, I would.

This went on for like 20 min.

Man it was awesome.

In the end, he finished ahead, with R finishing first and myself 3rd.

B is a great rider and I hope to see him at more races.

The more casual crew also had a blast. Some had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but everyone seemed to have a smile (of relief?) on their face after.

That's whats cross is about.

Competitive, semi-competitive, quasi-competitive, relatively competitive, alcoholy competitive, or non-competitive.

Whatever, just have fun.

Riding bikes in rain and mud

My buddy D has caught the cross bug. He came out to one of my workout things, and is generally enthusiastic about cross and it taking hold here in Austin.

We had been checking our emails and atxbs.com to check if a race would be called Friday/Saturday. No dice.

We talked, why not just call one our own?

I said, I worthless for organizing, but Ill be down 100% for a race.

Ill say, D is good at organizing.

He talked to BD and was able to borrow some barriers. Thanks BD.

This thing was called like 2 hours before meet time, but he got the word out good, and planned a damn good race and course for us freaks.

Anyhow, the vibe, race, and aftermath was great. More on that soon.

And if for some ridiculous reason you are reading this and haven't ever moseyed around in D's hood, do it now. www.thyneighborsbike.com

Dirt Derby

Daaaaaaaaaaaamn

That is some fun and competitive racing.

The course is a bit out there. I rode about 9/10 miles from my place. I actually got a flat about a mile from the course and had to do a quick fix.

The course is tough stuff. It is a moto cross park after all. Some serious sand. Deep ruts. Tall ramps. Good stuff.





So how'd I do??

In the intermediate race I placed 6th of 14.

Top half on a course I have no experience in. Good deal.

I also know what kind of training I need to do to simulate race tempo.

In the Open (fast) race I placed 7th of 11.

It doesn't really look like it, but I did WAY better in the second race. It is a tougher one.

Really, every lap got better and better. I started learning the lines. I began to learn and trust my tires.

Hahaha.

I was given a nick name by the announcer...

Big Air (last name here)

Haha. Why?

Well. There is an enormous table top that you climb to get to the finish line.

I used the climb to advance a position, and ended up kinda popping a little air on the flat where the "officials" sit. The announcer commented on it.

Then, a few seconds later, I was cookin' it to create a gap between me and the dude I just passed.

I come up to some small table tops, and got a some authentic air (for a cross bike).

That sealed the deal.

Funny stuff.

Fun stuff.

More Dilla with a splash of Tribe

Its a GO, GO

Time to see what I got.

This will be my first "proper" cx race.

I feel strong. I have been putting a lot of miles on.

30 min of hell. exciting.

Did the 360/Shoal Creek loop today.

Saw the Triathlon on my way out.

Looking to check out the crits around 4pm

More Dilla:

Yes I have been riding bikes.

Did a mountain ride this week and a grip of road rides.

Looking forward to the Annual ride tonight/tomorrow morning.

First things first.

Drink beer at Independence.

Indulge in a fat nap.

Another Dilla production

Music

J Dilla was a producer. Some might call him a composer.

He provided a lot of magic to the Tribe.


This is a good sample: