As the crank turns… tales of life on the rims

Results….

The results are posted and they have me 14th out of 55 finishers. They did put one guy in front of me that I am pretty sure was not in front of me only because I know him and do not remember him passing me and know I was in front of him at the start, but stuff happens out there. I am sure of nothing.

This means I picked up 17 points in the overall and climbed up into 30th place. MJH2 did a 16/55 for this race and is in 45th because he popped last race and hit a barrier this one (COME ON MAN!). He is sooooooo much better than that and he knows it.

JAnd had a good showing coming in 48/55! I think that might be ones if his best performances to date in terms of the number of guys he beat. The man has talent. More than I think he even knows. MJH2 and I have decided that we've only ever seem at most 60% of his actual current ability and we're pretty sure he isn't even aware of how deep his well really runs. Need to get him on the road circuit this year and serve up some pure pain as a form of demonstration.

JBernaeyge dropped a 25th place after what he calls a miserable performance. He beat supergirl though and he says that's all that matters (Supergirl...no hating here...I'm still one of your biggest fans!).

JMaxwell had a good showing dropping in between myself and MJH2 with one of his best showings to date. Someone send us a pic of him so we can have our eye out for him next time.

EDIT: Special shout-out to velosnaps for nailing the picture of the day of me... here!

Chicken has been served

So I decided that today would be the day and I took the plunge. No more chicken for me. I decided it was time to try my hand at cyclocross. The event was the Carpentersville Race #4 on the Chicago Cyclocross Cup series.

I arrived early at 8:30ish to pre-ride the course and register. I was met by some cold weather. Tights, long gloves, winter vest, cap type of cold weather. I am firmly convinced the biting cold was mother nature's way of say, "HEY YOU KIDS! STOP MESSING UP MY PARKS!"

I met up with teammate MJH2 and we pre-rode the course. In short order we were wondering why we were doing this. Specifically we took issue with the following:

1. It's hard. Like, "OMG! Is daddy going to die mommy? Why can't he breathe?" kind of hard.
2. It takes place on this substance called "off-road". Apparantly this substance is filled with ruts, holes, is not consistant in texture or hardness, and generall means you will not be able to change you hand position for the duration for fear that you will die if you try.
3. They let locals place big barriers (big wooden boards) across the trail. This means you must get off your bike....I know...WTF right?! I heard one local describe it as such, "if they're going to come into our park wearing lycra and (literally) dress like superheros and tear up our park then I want to see carnage. Blood will work.
4. They thought it would be cool to make you ride through a sand pit. Like sandbox, playground sand. No...beach sand. Ever ride a bike on a beach? How'd that work for you? Thought so.
5. Sometimes the slower you go, the faster you are. See? I told you...these off-road types smoke lots of dope.

Generally we felt like we were going to learn a few things. With a few practice laps behind us we each took off. 4B was our category (beginner) and our category's race was at 3:00pm - last race.

I came back in time to catch part of the Cat 1,2,3 race. Bicycle Heaven (my team) had 3 guys in The 1,2,3 race. It was intense to see those guys so gassed.

Pre-race lap.

I ended up going through the sand pit when I noticed that there were a lot of guys lining up at the start. Then I noticed that there was no one behind me. Ooops. I guess they didn't really mean, "take a lap". What was I thinking....:(

The 4 b field. There are 67 riders in there...obviously the picture doesn't display the width of the field. It was big.

Giving it my "Oooo" face...

Newly found teamate JAnd. Giving it his "Ooo" face...

...Where are you going MJH2?? The trail is over there...

Our buddy J Bernaeyge in the Area 51 Tatoo jersey leading Super Girl out of the sand pit

So this is running? This sucks...

So...to make an already long race report longer I'll just mention this:

• One of the hardest things I have ever done on a bike
• I loved it
• I now have the following: a kneecap that is either cracked or heavily bruised, bruised shoulder, and a smile across my face.
• Ara - the team/shop owner was hanging over the fence of the beer garden with a beer in hand yelling for me to pick it up at the end of the straight on one of the laps. I just about dismounted and jumped the fence for the beer.
• Road is where it's at, but I can see how cross can become like that bad crack habit you don't like telling people about.
• I still hate winter.

The best part of this madness though is that I get to do this every single weekend through December. You can't see me but I'm holding out devil horns and sticking my tounge out. It just might be allright to go slumming with the dirt crowd every now and then.

For the record they had me down as 40th out of 67. I think it's total crap. I passed a lot of guys and I was passing lapped traffic at the end. Lapped traffic always screws up the placings. One of the volunteers was encouraging me to protest, but here's the thing...what difference does it make?

Huge A++++++++ - thumbs up goes to Jeff and the crowd from Main Street Bicycles in Carpentersville for putting on an top shelf event. One of the best I have ever been to in any for of cycling. I have been around this race for 3 years and it just keeps getting better. Not enough can be said for the effort and planning that goes into this. It's a passion. Thanks Jeff.

Oh....and I discovered Supergirl's secret identity. I caught her unwinding in the beer garden....