No one else in the picture

Now if I can just find the picture.

"No one else in the picture" is a reference to a chapter of Joe Parkin's book "A Dog in a Hat." Basically, the phrase refers to a win, where you are so far ahead of second place that when the picture of you crossing the line is shot, you're the only person in the photo; no one else in the picture.
I finally got a win this year, and it was of this type.
Saturday was race #2 in the Indiana Cup Series which is a series within the Ohio Valley Series.
I took the hole shot, traded the front w/ another guy for one lap, then got a gap and never looked back. I rode super hard the entire race and the way the course was set up, there were a lot of places to mark the gap you had, and mine was growing every lap. I had enough of lead to ease off on the final lap and roll in for a solo V.
My comrade and training partner Fred Rose took the same kind of "W" in his race; w/ no one else in his picture. Good weekend for Bloomingtonians in Indy.
We went over to Broadripple after racing to eat, etc and were stopped by two (2) funeral processionals. The took for ever, but I guess in a city that has, like, 200 murders/year, getting caught in only 2 processionals probably isn't too bad.
Today (Sunday) there was a OVCX race, but it was in Lexington, KY and I wasn't up for driving that far. So I opted for a longish road ride instead. After Saturday's race I had some pains in my right leg (upper and lower), and it was bothering some today too, but I rode super good despite. I didn't bring enough food for the ride (given the efforts required in the stiff headwinds), and I bonked pretty hard with about 1/2hr to go. I got recovery drink in me as soon as I got home, then ate some good recovery food.
I also got my CX bike all cleaned up, and since I'm not racing this weekend hopefully it will stay clean for more than a few days this time! All the maintenance required racing CX is about as exhausting as actually racing CX.
The photos mixed in here are from the second race of the series in Louisville on Oct 4. I just came across them though. They're taken by frame builder Tim O'donnell.
Oh, and if you gaze to the right, you'll see I'm now twittering, or tweeting, or whatever it's called when you waste even more time assuming people give a crap about what you're doing. Yeah, that's me.

Weekend pics

Here are a few pics from the Gun Club CX this past weekend:

The start (I'm dead center in orange/blue). Hoping the dude in green to my left doesn't take me out. I remember this guy before the start saying "how'd I get in the front row?" And me thinking 'I hope this guy can hold a line.' Apparently he couldn't.

Into the sand pit lap one: off the front (you can see the gap I'd created).

Barriers.

More barriers. This is a pretty good action shot of my awesome remount technique; I look like a rag doll being shaken.

Podium. I was cooling down on the road and missed my call to podium. I'd be standing where it says "Kenda" if I were more vigilant.

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This weekend I think I am going to skip the Sunday OVCX race due to 1) it being in Lexington (far away) and 2)Lindsay wants the car to go ride MTB. So I am planning on going to an Indy CX race Saturday, and maybe doubling up and doing the Cat III race AND the Cat I, II, III race. Then riding long Sunday w/ RS. We'll see though, racing 2 races will be hard, seeing as sometimes I can barely stand after my race, let alone get back on and put forth that kind of effort again.
I also think my Dad is running a marathon in Indy Saturday so if it all works out time wise we may try to meet up w/ my parents somewhere for post race(s) food action.

Hammer, brake, slide, repeat

Today's OVCX race was a mud-fest. The title is about how it was ridden, hammer anytime you could, then as soon as you got speed, brake for a turn of some sort, slide into, through and out of the turn, then hammer again. It also featured multiple run sections (some that would have been ridable in dry conditions, some that were run ups no matter what), but given the mud your shoes picked up tons of ground and 1)weighed about 5x what they normally would and 2) made clipping back in pedals very difficult at times.
I snapped this pic of my pedal and front derailler cluster, which are pretty packed w/ mud.
Also, it was muddy enough that Scott Bond took a pit stop to hose off his bike and shoes mid race (he was having a crappy race and decided to have some fun by pit washing during his race, it was hilarious really).

All that said, I did have a very good race though. I took the whole-shot and opened up a significant gap on most of the field in the first lap. Just one other dude bridged to me, and he's beaten me every time we've raced (usually by a lot to boot), but I'm not going to stop trying. Basically it was he and I trading the lead until 2 to go and he pulled away for good; I just couldn't match him.
So I rode in for a solid second place. I still don't know what my gap on third was, so I just rode as hard as I could the whole time.
I was very happy with my race an very happy with my result.
I can usually gauge my effort afterwards by how bad I feel and for long I feel bad (what I have dubbed "Effort Sickness"). Today I felt really bad for about an hour or so. And it was the kind of bad where I'm not sure I'm going to be able to drive myself home. That means I went really hard. But I got feeling better. And I made it home.

Big pimpin???not so much!

So I'm building a "B" cross bike. On the cheap. Basically, when I got my new frame I sold my old one to a friend. Well, I ended up buying it back and am building my old cross bike back up as a pit bike for next to nothing money wise.
But just when I think I'm big pimpin stylee w/ a "B" bike, I peep this picture of Neils Albert at the Koppenberg Cross. Now my B bike will be distinguishable by it being a different model year, different color and totally different set up. But big Pro's have their bikes identical, so they can start on one and finish on another and not tell a difference. Due to this (and for the sake of the mechanic's dealing with their bikes) they put numbers one the headtube to tell one from another.
Long story, right? But if you look closely at the pic below, you see the Neils', bike has "5" on the headtube indicating this is not his "A" bike nor his "B" bike, but his "E" bike. Meaning he has at least 5 bikes in his quiver! Craziness.

Things that make you go "hmmm"

This came in the mail the other day.
So do I sign it, then a piano falls on my head or something? No thanks, I'd rather not enroll for accidental death; I'll take my chances.

Hilly Weekend

I measure my years in Hilly 100's. 1 more down.
The weekend was good, Saturday was cool and very windy, but Sunday was great. We were busy, as usual, but I think there were fewer people this year. We made a little less money than usual, but only a little.
It was mostly the standard issue repairs, but I snapped a photo of Josh doing our "big" repair for this year.
This dude's seatpost broke off and had to be sawed out. We had him go to the hardware store and get a straight hacksaw, but he got a cheap one and the carbon fiber was too tough for it and it dulled the blade before the post could be gotten through. We did not get him going (which is our overall goal, to get people going).
It was good weekend though. I got to see some people I don't see very often and it's nice to be out, somewhere different.

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I was a little bummed to have to miss the USGP races n Louisville, but word is it was a total mud bath, so I guess if I had to miss any races, it's better to miss a mud fest. Pic below is my chum Fred Rose. Fred apparently was dealt race number 13. It is customary for a riders to pin on unlucky #13 upside-down, but Fred was risking it here. I'm way too superstitious to chance that.

In other Hilly news: Karen Bayne, who used to work with me at Bikesmiths and is a friend came to town for the ride. She moved to Northern Ohio for a teaching gig at a small college a year or two ago.
While riding Saturday morning she crashed into the back of a car and was badly hurt. She was in a coma for two days, has broken neck vertebrae (no paralysis though), broken ribs, broken knee cap, and lots of cuts. She regained consciousness yesterday (Monday) and was able to respond to doctors. It seems her cognitive function's will be return, hopefully to normal (at first there was wonder that IF she recovered, whether or not her cognitive function would return). I have been to visit her twice but she has been sleeping both times.
We're all hoping for a good and full recovery for her.

Which brings me to my final topic: today's workout. It looked like rain, so I suited up and went to a circuit I like to do intervals on that is fairly close to home. I was going to do 2x20min in my zone 3/4. First interval felt hard, but I hammered it out. I just figured I wasn't very warmed up and the second one would come easier. Not so. I was flailing like a rag doll and using all the positive self talk I could muster. Then at 10minutes in, it started raining, so I just rode the interval to the turn back into town and bagged it @ 12min. Fail. This is really the first interval workout I've totally screwed, so it's no big deal I'm sure, but it is a little discouraging.
Oh well, back to racing this weekend!

Fall

This was supposed to be a great picture of the Southern Indiana fall colors, it didn't really come out too good. It's pretty though, trust me.
The bad part of the fall down here is the roads are COVERED in leaves. And when it rains, like it did today, descents are treacherous. If taken very slowly, they're doable, but still dangerous. Careful, folks.
I ended up w/ a very solid training week, which will be a little short hours wise due to the weekend being completely void of riding in favor of working the Hilly 100. But w/ no racing this weekend, I wanted to have a good, hard week.
Well, I am out of time. Got to get ready for Hilly.
Talk to you's after the festivities!