Staten CX- the best DFL

It's taken a good long while, but i think i needed some time to reflect on the race.

Staten CX ripped through NYC on November 30th. Jed, myself, and John put everything into this race and it paid off. I've never been prouder to be part of something like this. This whole event speaks volumes about the New York 'Cross scene, my friends, and the people that came together to make this race the awesome new nyc tradition that it will surely become.

I'm wary of taking too much credit for putting this race on (and that's rare coming from me,) but this race happened because of my friends and the greater cycling community here. this race was everyone's baby. We had incredible sponsors, fantastic press coverage, amazing volunteers (i owe you all big time...), fantastic music, great food, a killer course, awesome photos, and great racers all come together for a good cause.



putting this race on made me realize that if you really like what you're doing, you can do great things. it doesn't feel like work. you want to do it. we did so much work for this, but it didnt feel like a chore. Weeks after the race, i'm left with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, and i want to do it again (and we will).

I'm going to pull a move usually reserved by hip-hop grammy winners- time for long winded thank you's (its' a long list)

Jed



jed got the idea of putting on a cross race. we've been partners in this through and through. putting this race on together also made us close friends. i'm totally pumped to put more races on with him next year.

John Cutler



the lone ranger in the full CRCA kit and (kind of) matching 14-year-old-girl rollerblade helmet, john jumped in to help the cause out of nowhere. he's was responsible for getting us a ton of sponsors, including the FREE belgian wafels (more on that later), and also getting the race course equipment to staten island.

The Sponsors

Honest Tea showed up and supplied their great beverages.



Schaller & Weber Provided sustenance in the form of amazing sausages.



Wellshire Farms accosted us with 25 lbs of delicious, dry-rubbed bacon (drool).



Thomas Degeest, owner of Wafels & Dinges, sent some waffle men over to give out free waffles.



The waffles were free thanks two two great sponsors: Visitflanders.us (thanks Elke!), and Velo Classic tours (visit belgium! ride the cobbles!). Visitflanders and Velo classic also came to the race and added some belgian culture to our race village.

Chef Matt Sigel made sure the brats and bacon were nice and hot.

Kendra dropped furious beats and put on a euro-trash techno party in between races.



Cadence sent their team of crack mechanics (complete with Fu-manchu mustachio) to make sure the bikes survived the epic course conditions. they also came with 6 BMC demo bikes, which allowed for a ton of people (like Lisa Force!) to try out cross for the first time.



thanks to their bikes, a ton of people are going to buy a bike next season and race cross!


Claudette Lajam from orthochick.net made sure the ladies were taken care of and put in for Ladies-only primes. Robert Dvorin was another great sponsor and put in for additional Food and i believe some primes.

Jan from Sportique sent me a ton of great chamois cream and embrocation to give out as prizes.



Andrew crooks from NYC Velo donated a ton of great schwag to the prize list, as did Tandems east and Toga! john's friend Gus was a huge help and brought over Myles' Step ins and barriers all the way from Southampton. Myles did us a big favor by lending us his cross course equipment- a buttload of step ins and a pair of barriers.



Friends



The best thing i took away from this race was the affirmation that i've got the best friends in the world. they all helped in so many ways- whether it was gathering Step-ins in wet 35 degree rain after the race, getting the word out about the race, bringing in bacon sponsors, etc. So, i owe a beer and one (1) lewd act to each of the following people:



Kendra- DJ extrardinaire/Trophy assistant/podium girl


Kyle Peepo- He's Prussian, you know
Evie - sandbagging step-in-gatherer
Patrick littlefield- announcer/wino
Jason Gay- bacon intermediary- also did the write up for velo news
Rich bravo, Hott sam, Beth Renaud, Tony Slokar, Jed's Parents, brian gatens- (course setup)



Austin Horse, Evan Chalfin, Bret Vaughan- HUGE. course breakdown
Heidi Reijm- registration ALL STAR.
Lindsay Paluska and corinne Karmiel- podium girls, etc
Alan Atwood- officiating and facilitating USA cycling permit stuff. also helped with course logistics
Patrick wilder- PDX transplant! helped design the course- added some PDX flava'
Josh Creem- donated a sweet cyclosportif winner's jersey (which roger aspholm now owns- obviously)
the paparazzi: Maria Q (sweet video!), Anthony Skorochod, Liam Quigley, Kevin Dillard, david Chomowicz, Claudette Lajam, Jerry Kapkow, Eloy Anzola, and Harry Zernike
Colin Prensky- sandbagger extraordinaire
Lauren Zucker- for lending me her crazy Yellow Pickup Truck
The CRCA (notably Mike Green, Ken Harris, "Evil" Matt Howard)- for backing the event- this race was as much a CRCA event as it was an NYC event!


I want to thank the racers that showed up- we had over DOUBLE the pre-reg of any race that day in the north-east- 119 pre-reg'ed and a bunch more same-day. you guys braved the elements and came out to race in perfect, miserable Belgian weather. you made the race fun and duked it out on the course. Nice job to everyone- Especially to those who tried 'cross for the first time- what a day to try it! you experienced 'cross at its best and worst: the mud, the wind, the rain, the cold, the people cheering, the food, the music, and the attitude. The whole scene is what its all about. As Barry Wicks said- anyone can put on a 'cross race. But for it to be fun, you've got to embrace the right atmosphere. We had just that on November 30th, and it was thanks to all of the people i mentioned above



and a BIG thank you to the NYC Parks department- Sarah Frazier, Sandra Fernandez, Vincent, and Laurie. the parks department was a HUGE help, and this race could not have happened without their support. their willingness to help and their level of accommodation was astounding. From the entire new york cyclocross community- THANK YOU!



As for my race, well there's not way to sugar coat it: i came in DFL in my own race! DFL! I know. apparently 2 hrs of sleep has an effect on my performance. instead of coming in 3rd to last, i came in dead last. and of course colin prensky had to win the damn thing.... Next time i'm putting that guy into the tape...



By the way, i love how different his blogging is from my own. He reports from the front of the pack, I report from the middle/back. He waxes poetic on the spirit of competition and winning, i make fart/bacon/poop jokes. i think it's awfully complimentary...

Putting this race on was a great experience through and through- i made some great contacts, new friends in the cycling scene, and i was able to spend time in a borough that i had barely visited! Staten Island is a mythical, elusive, and funny place. it was the perfect setting for our race, and hopefully will be for years to come.

As for next year, watch out. We've got big plans. cool stuff is on the way. i think you're goin to like it...

Out with the road and in with the Cross

I've been going full throttle with racing since late march, and started to relax and taper a week or two ago. I was starting to feel constantly tired and burnt out, and ready for the road season to end. All those hours in the saddle had been starting to wear on me after training and racing for so long. Hence why I'm so looking forward to cyclocross season. I'm ready to relax. I'm ready to get out of the city every weekend, and get back into a scene thats a bit more relaxed and a bit more fun than the at-times tense and elitist road scene can be. It's fun as hell to go all out for 45 minutes, get extremely dirty, and then drink a beer and ring some cowbell. I'm so pumped i could poop myself. I'm in much better shape than last year, and my cross bike is just a bit more obnoxious than before. you might think the gold Chris king headset and carbon bars are ostentatious, but how else am i ever going to win a cross race?!?!?!?.

Two Weeks ago Bear Mountain was supposed to happen. I'm not going to say that i was praying for it to be canceled, but it really did make my weekend all the more pleasant... Any weekend where I'm not getting dropped on Tiorati is a good weekend to me...
Our team got together for an epic ride up to Cold Spring- north of Bear mountain. the weather was perfect, and after our normal combination of crashes/sprints/shit talking, we all ended up at a restaurant in Cold Spring, totally Bonked out. Bacon cheeseburgers never tasted so good. I couldn't remember the last "fun" ride i had been on- a ride without a training goal or mileage to prep for a race- it was great. everyone had a great time (including Ethan, who apparently has an asphalt fetish and loves to make out with it whenever he can)

This weekend was a weekend of transition- Friday was my 24th Birthday, and instead of getting wasted, i went to Le Bernardin for dinner and then rode in a cross race the next morning. Classy!

Chad and I headed over to Augusta (cyclocross capital of NJ) to hop some barriers and get dirty. They were giving away a Van Dessel to the person who won the hole shot, so the C field was quite a talented one. it was pretty funny seeing cat 2 and 3 roadies show up for a C race. Fun times nonetheless. The course was full of turns that went from grass to loose gravel in the middle of the turn, and they were particularly treacherous. as i was practicing, i completely slid out on one of the turns due to my tire pressure being too hi. I must've bent my derailleur hanger as well, because after five minutes my chain ended up in my spokes and i had a snapped spoke to deal with. fifteen minutes before the start.

i ripped the bad spoke out and got a crash course in re-truing wheels. given that i had never re-trued a wheel before i think i did a pretty good job...



The cross race started faaaaast. the Adler guys went off to do whatever adler guys do at the front of races (i haven't had the pleasure of being up there yet, but i hear the occasional act of man love happens during the sprint). I did my thing and focused on staying fluid and finding a good rhythm . I passed a few people during the race, and learned how to better deal with long off-camber sections (keep pedaling) the run up was fine and the course was sort of technical and tons of fun. Came in 13th out of about 44 starters. fine by me. I'm so ready for cross.




That being said, I rode this morning's CRCA race- it was the team finale- 2.5X team points. as our team was ahead, we wanted to keep the race aggressive and solidify our first place standing. The first lap alone was stupid fast, and people kept being aggressive. while our team didn't manage any solid results, kyle and i did mix it up in the sprint- i believe we were both top 15. Next time I'll try to avoid the guy that decides to stop sprinting in the middle of the field sprint (not naming names). Nevertheless I thought the race was really fun and I'm 90% sure we've retained our 1st place standing in the team cup.



This week is a great time to reflect on the past road season. Today's race marked the 1 yr anniversary of me bike racing. I still remember being terrified at the idea of being dropped during that first CRCA race, and was so proud of myself to not get dropped during that first race. over the year, I hooked up with a great team that really had alot to do with why i enjoyed racing so much this past year. the very fact that they put up with my obnoxious ramblings every time we ride is amazing in and of itself I love riding with them, and They're a big reason why i have so much fun doing all this.



I've ridden god-knows-how-many miles and spent too many hrs on the trainer at 5 am in the middle of the winter. I've lost 14 lbs since i started in January and upgraded to a cat 4. I'm looking forward to the next road season to see how i can improve and be a better racer. While we all sacrifice quite a bit of time (and money) to do this sport, i think its one of the best things in our lives. but then again i can only speak for myself.


Time to start training for cross. I'm going to start running stairs and also might take up this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it's jogging or yogging. it might be a soft J. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild.



Peace out homies- time go to eat sausage and drink wayyyy too much beer.