Best/Worst

So 2007 is pretty much all done, and '08 is just round the corner. this time of year is the perfect opportunity for content-starved/lazy bloggers such as myself to use the new year as an excuse to look back on things. Hey, everyone's doing it, so i guess I'll jump on the bandwagon:

Today's installment- the best and worst of 2007! I'll use my very own narrow experiences with bicycle stuff to reign verdicts on them in an effort to show you that my opinion matters more just because I'm writing it down!

Big Ups to the following:

Chris King Headsets

photo courtesy of Liam "quiggles" Quigley

A friend of mine once told me, "Christophe, There's no such thing as bad head." While I would love to believe something like that, We've all had our share of skunky beer, Hummers with too much teeth, and Cane Creek Headsets. I had one of those on my cross bike and It didn't really last through one season of cross. I slapped on a pretty gold Chris King and I haven't thought about my headset since, except to drool over how nice it is. Headsets work best when you don't notice them. and Chris King wins.


Probikekit.com

So I've got a little bit of a hard-on for European things. I like campy on my bike, I like Sidi's on my feet, and I like to ride Fondriests. while that MAY make me a pretentious and mildly idiotic Cat 4 who really has no need for that kind of stuff (that's not the argument here), that's how i roll. However, Campy and Sidi's are expensive. then about a year ago someone got me in on Probikekit.com-
can you say full campy chorus gruppo for a grand? thanks! This shop out of the UK seems to get fantastic pricing on all euro goods, even when you take into account the terrible currency conversion rate. I just splurged on a campy gruppo the other night for the new team bike that's on the way (more on that later), and I couldn't be happier. So, if you're addicted to ostentatious, pretty, expensive European bike components, head over there.

Assos Chamois Cream



No old news here- this stuff is the buttcream of the gods. The minty tingle lets you know its working.

Cadence (our new sponsor bike shop)



If you live in NYC and haven't checked out this new shop yet, you should. You're not going to find a nicer store anywhere in the city. The space is great, the bikes are beautiful, and the mechanics are fantastic. They've got 30 or so networked computrainers that get put to good use, and a whole list of services you're not going to find anywhere else. We've used their compu-trainers for rainy day/winter rides and its nice to be able to ride with your teammates when its nasty outside. It's simply a fantastic (albeit expensive) shop. They've even got a cafe' in the friggin' store! if you've got the scrilla, stop by there.

The Mitchell report.

So I get a fair amount of crap from coworkers and non-cycling friends about the sport that I'm a part of. It usually goes something like this:

"cycling? oh, everyone in that sport is a doper! Hey, did you watch the game? it was so sick. has some real talent on the field!"

aside from the fact that the only real athletes on a baseball field are the pitchers and catchers, I think fans of american spectator sports had been on a sort of high horse amidst all the cycling doping scandals that wrecked the sport.

Enter the Mitchell Report.

I haven't had that "every cyclist is a doper" conversation with any fan of American sports ever since that report came out. I think doping in a sport is terrible, ruins a sport, and needs to be exposed so it can be cleaned up, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get any satisfaction out of the fact that the report makes their arguments hypocritical in nature. I can't wait to see if they have an equivalent investigation for pro football- that would be interesting...

Booo to the following:

Campagnolo

Their spare parts, more specifically. Don't get me wrong- I love campy. I love the way it works, how it shifts, and how pretty it is. What i don't like is how everyone acts like campy is totally rebuildable, and easily done so. I've gone through three sets of chorus shifters THIS SEASON (thanks to all the dudes that like to fall in front of me during crits for no reason- i'll bill you next time). While the Internals are in fact replaceable and rebuildable, the actual housing and levers are not. what does that mean? well, when you crash, the housings an levers take the hit. So here i am with 2 sets of un-useable campy shifters that have perfectly good internals.

Furthermore, Campy sucks when it comes to spare spokes for their wheels. They make fantastic wheels- I have a pair of Campy Eurus's and think they're fantastic. the bearing are great, and the wheels never go out of true. Except for crashes. I've snapped spokes on these a few times, and each time it was a huge pain in the ass to find spokes. it's not that campy doesn't sell the spokes- it's that campy likes to sell the spokes as kits of 20 for $200. they make far fewer single spoke kits. Calling Campagnolo was about as useful as eating a hot fudge sundae before stage 3 at Green mountain. Good thing that Mike, The mechanic at Cadence, is resourceful- he was able to find the spokes after digging around a bit. He's the man.

Runners/pedestrians in central park

"Hi! I'm a runner! I like to jog around the loop in central park. my favorite part about it is how I'm just able to run without being aware of my surroundings- I'm important and so is my exercise- so why should i stay in the runners lane? my fitness transcends "lanes." Running is about being free and meandering around regardless of traffic behind you. even if the runner's lane is empty, i like to stay out of it because I'm an individual and don't like to conform."

you know the type- sometimes you catch those d-bags wearing shorts that make spandex look like a set of petty coats. I can't really understand why these guys feel like running in the runners lane isn't for them, but they sure love to get in the way. They're almost as bad as the self absorbed kamikaze parents that love to jaywalk into oncoming traffic with their babies in a carriage.

Floyd Landis

Well, he got a fair trial, and he was found guilty, so that's that. So Boo to you, Floyd. Even though he was found guilty, I think that some good came of the whole trial and ordeal. They found a ton of faults with the anti-doping process. I think the governing bodies and the general public has a better idea of what needs to be done to allow for a fair pursuit of a clean sport. It's a fine line to walk between a witch hunt and justice. I think cycling will start to take a turn for the better in the future (especially when compared to the other spectator sports, Ahem...)

That being said, I'm still selling the "Free Floyd" T-shirts, Except now I'm advertising them as "Ironic" T-shirts.

OK, enough angst- it's time for BBQ.

Last Laugh

I figure its best to have the last word with holiday wishes (that and I've been much too busy/lazy/corpulent eating Foie gras to actually be productive)

Happy Holidays! I hope all 8 of my readers has a great, safe, and tasty Holiday season filled with new bike gear. Watch out though- once New Year's passes, training is on.

-CJIA

Heads up: CRCA party

hope to see some of you there!

I ain't 'fraid of no spokes

It's been a good while since I've updated my narcissistic corner of the interweb, so here goes:

cross has been super fun/painful. I quickly decided to take a break from training hard and just do cross for fun. I may be permanent pack fodder, but who cares as long as i'm having fun,right? I started to feel burn-out by the end of the road season, and any more training into the fall wasn't going to happed. Still, I've been racing almost every week and enjoying the cross scene with my friends and fellow bike racers.

As being lazy is the theme of the fall, I'll sum up each race briefly here:

Central Park cross in Schenectady
sum up: Chad and i rolled up to central park in Schenectady for a cross race put on by the CBRC. I would just like to note that when i first heard about this race a year ago, i thought there was a cross race in Central park. THE central park. I still think it's false advertising. anyway, the course was a good looking one with a nice mix of technical sections and some flat grassy goodness. a highlight of the course would have to be the huge falled log that you had to climb over during every lap. I know what you're thinking- dead wood's boring (unless it's on HBO), but this seemingly normal log had a wasp's nest in it. NICE! a few people got stung and one unfortunate dude slammed into it twice during the race. good times. I finished somewhere in the middle of the pack, and avoided getting stung by wasps. I think its because i started sporting the green meanie on my bike.



grrr. watch out. nothing says "don't F*ck with me" like a squeaky toy on a bicycle. After the race we had our traditional diner lunch and stuffed ourselves with trashy diner breakfasty goodness (Toto would be proud).


Southampton Super Cross



I hit up the first day of the Whitmore super cup race in Southampton. it was a huge turnout, and a bunch of the big dogs were in town. The course was fantastic. it was fast, technical, and painful. a couple of run ups, some off cambers, and some sand thrown in for good measure. I must have biffed about 4 times during the race. I stuck on Chad's tail for most of the race, but never had the chance to pass his gangly ass. At this point in the cross season, my goal has shifted from placing in the race to just beating any other teammates in my field. After the race (and once i stop coughing up mucus) , we checked out the pro races. before the big boys went out, I got to meet Erwen Vervecken and chatted with him for all of 30 seconds- the photo should amuse you:



I know what you're thinking- and no, despite my height, I can still get on most major roller coasters.

Casualties: Littlefield has a domestic dispute with a 'cross barrier, Bravo tears his rotator cuff, and of course, CJ loses more dignity:


Granogue



Granogue was a interesting this year. Last year this super-hard cross race was my 2nd cross race ever. I came in 2nd to last and almost puked. This year I had a pack-fodder finish, but it was comfortably in the middle (Yay mediocrity!). The course was beautiful as ever, and the run up was just as menacing as i remember t. The organizers at Granogue really do put together one of the best race events in the northeast. The course was fantastic, the ground was a bit muddy, the off-cambers were tricky, and it was pretty grueling. one of the vendor tents was selling "Bart Wellens kickboxing academy" T-shirts. I've gotta have one. A ton of people came out for this race, and we all convened by the beer tent to kill the kegs that a local brewery had left for our enjoyment. Is there really anything better than beer after a cross race??

As the B race finished, someone comes up to me to tell me that my teammate Ethan had crashed during the race and was asking for me. uh. oh. lets just say Ethan is to crashing as I am to talking about bacon- it happens more than it should. Ethan says he thinks he re-broke his collarbone. nice!



I ended up driving him back to Westchester and decided to forgo the next day's race in PA. turns out he didn't actually break it- which is a relief. however, it was funny as hell to hear him tell me during the ride back that "it doesn't really hurt like the last time." hmmm, a clue!

Chainbiter 9.0


I like the Chainbiter course a whole lot. It's a giant sandtrap. its a well-designed course and a ton of fun. Unfortunately, my race didn't last long- crashed out in the first lap. I slid out on a sharp turn, and the derailleur decided to make out with my spokes. snap, snap, see you later! last year Chad's Chain exploded mid-race, so i guess it was my turn this year.

The highlight of the race turned out to be going back to Littlefield's to each about a pound of artisanal cheese and drink who knows how much good wine. Every race should end that well!

Craigmeur 2

The Halloween race at Craigmeur is a ton of fun. I was more concerned with winning the costume competition than with doing well at the race. I really wanted to do Mario brothers with Chad, but it turns out that Kmart doesn't even sell overalls. Aw well, backup plan:



I managed to win the C-race (the costume contest, that is). A few lessons were learned at this race:
-Don't race hung over
-Don't race with a proton pack on your back.
-If you're that much of a narcissist, be sure to not race the same field as Marco if you want your picture taken.

I could barely lift up my head with that thing on my back. Ah well, who needs to look where they're going during a cross race?

Highland Park



today's race at Highland park was alot like old people having sex: it was icky, slow, and hotter than I thought it would be. I woke up this morning to a thermometer telling me it was 30 degrees outside. I put about 4 layers on and drove out to the race, only to have the sun come out and be in th mid 40' s right before the race started. The ground had frozen overnight, but it quickly thawed right when the race started. it made for a trickier course. Big ups to the Rutgers guys for putting together such a great race. the weather was perfect, the course was challenging, and the race was a ton of fun. I had a good rhythm going for most of the race until i slid out on some sandy dirt and dropped my chain. after that the race was a one-way ticket on the pain train. I was able to ride the muddy switchbacks that had people running, and even manage to do a ridiculous rear-wheel slide on one muddy turn without falling. Tokyo drift style, yo. (what a terrible movie).


Next week is the GP of cross in Trenton, NJ (exotic!). That'll be the last big cross race of the season for me, although i might hop over to do a few more Augusta races if there are any. I've decided to not even think about racing at nationals this year, because a bike race is just about the only interesting thing to do in Kansas city. They should do nats in portland or rhode island (again) next year.

Hopefully the weather stays brisk for a while before it becomes nut-bustingly cold again. I'd really like to put off riding on my trainer again until i absolutely need to...

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.