RRV: 2, Cap'n Slow: 0

I wasn't all that motivated to race this weekend.  With nearly everyone on the Frites team being out of town getting married or still nursing a triptophan induced narco-sleepy, I didn't feel all that inclined to get my stuff together, drive to the venues, and race until I almost hurl.  Its the rest of the team that makes all the race so enjoyable.  What can I say.  I'm a pack animal.  No, not an alpaca or mule.  Pack as in pack mentality, coyotes, wolves, dogs, geese.  Those kind.  So Saturday, I had much fun brewing some beer.  And I decided after getting an SMS from Rich that I should race on Sunday.  Not that I wanted to.

Today was one of those days at RRV (Rich's Retirement Venue) where it just didn't feel right.  I woke up, did my morning race day ritual, but still didn't feel that excitement happening inside.  But instead of staying home staring at the airlock on the carboy, I packed my stuff in the car and headed toward Golden and the site of one of my worst races ever.  At least the temperature was tolerable this time.  Halfway there, I remembered I forgot to go to the bank.  So I drove around Golden looking for a Chase bank.  I was unable to find a Chase bank but did find every other possible bank including Frodo's Bank of Middle Earth and First Bank of Neptune.  So I stopped at a "foreign" ATM, payed the extra $3.00 and withdrew some money to pay for the race.

On the way from the bank to the race site my brother called.  I still had plenty of time to warm up so we talked for a while.  Ooops, too long.  Now I'm running a bit short on warm up time and the course is all crowded up with the men's 35 open class.  They're all "Get out of the way!"  and "On your left!" and "Stop flinging beer on me!".  So, I rode over to the registration area, paid my race fee, and discovered that after all the mud from the last race and the subsequent cleaning required, my shifting was off by a little.  No big deal, I travel with a wide variety of tools.  Tweak, tweak...all better and the race is starting in 10 minutes.  Still not warmed up.  I tried some sprints in the parking lot and then the staging began for the crush of humanity known as the men's 35+4.

We took off and I quickly discovered how not warmed up I was.  I was able to make the first hill and the left hand turn (different from the last RRV race) and then the pile up began.  I got off the bike, ran around a bunch of slobs who seemed content to lay in the dirt, and continued on.  Across the grassy, bumpy, parts, and down into the valley toward the tree and a big left hander.  I'm about 3 minutes into the race.

POP!

That was my chain.  Gone.  Done.  3 minutes of racing for $28 dollars and now I need a new 10 speed chain and if you haven't seen the price on those things lately you'll be surprised to know just how NOT cheap they are.  I flung my bike into the grass only to be told by a soccer mom with a big fat ass "Now be nice.  Settle down".  I would have ridden over her foot except, well, the broken chain thing.

I was pissed but not to the point that I feet like going home.  Instead, I had to almost force myself into a foaming rant and when I thought of foam, I immediately went to the freshly opened beer keg and had three.  That took the edge off.

RRV has beaten me again.  The first race, I finished next to last and this one I didn't finish at all. I spent 25 dollars to race + 3 dollars ATM charge at 1st Bank of Neptune + about 55 dollars for a new chain.  That comes to about 83 dollars for 3 minutes of racing.  Or, if you like, $1660 per hour.

FMVC Product Eval - Off Season Training Table

If you ever find yourself on the south side of Tucson, AZ..... and are seriously jones'n for authentic South of the border cuisine..... here is one of probably 200 great options.

The bars on the windows add to the experience.

The Southern headquarters of El Guero Canelo has two, two, two options in one! Right in front of the main restaurant is a Sanaroan Hot Dog stand.

Dogs in the front, full boat feed in the back.

They had me at Bacon.

I'm not sure what Bacon Sausage is,

but they had me at Bacon. Well, that and Mayo.

Reports are that his is a new sign.

The previous one had zero english.

Even the Sodas are imported from South of the border.

I found myself suddenly a big NAFTA fan.

Chicken Torta plus a buffet of all the grilled green

onions and jalapenos that you can handle. The new Frites en Mayo?

General dining tips for whitey:

1) During daylight hours, you don't have to Se Habla Espanola.... but it helps.
2) If you go after dark, you may not need to be armed.... but being able to speak the locals language would really help.

FMVC Product Review - Off Season Training Ride - Mt. Lemmon

Yeah..... I know..... there is still some CX season left. In Colorado, there is a whole whoppin' 2 weeks!

That said, the past couple days, I have confirmed that the good people of Tucson, AZ do not Se hobla Cyclocross. Lucky for me, I brought one of my off-season trainers (aka road bike) on the trip.


The climb to the top of Mt. Lemmon is somewhere around 25 miles. In the parking lot where all locals meet is Le Buzz Caffe/Espresso. All rides tend to start and end there.


Pros:
+ The 5000+ feet of climb to the top is a spread out in a consistent 5 to 7 % all the way up. The consistency of the grade allows for controlled interval work.
+ The road was rebuilt around 5 years ago and re-surfaced with new tarmac. It is buttery smooth with not a single piece of chip-and-seal to be seen in the whole 25 miles.
+ The surrounding terrain starts with desert cactus and ends with forest at a ski area. You will never be bored with the view.

Cons:
- There is not a ready supply of places to fill water bottles. There first place with running water is the ranger station at Palisades which is 24 miles from the start.
- The narrow bike lane all the way up may be an issue for the cyclists who demand that they be able to ride 3 abreast everywhere they go...... like... say.... some in Boulder, CO.

Lower Slopes are 5%



There is a crap load of cactus to go past on the way up.

In Colorado, tree line is 11,000ft.

In Arizona, Saguaro Cactus line is 4500 ft.

Then trees start to grow.

Looking up the hill about mid way up the climb.

You know you are getting near the top of a hill when you see this sign in AZ


The view back out over Tucson, AZ from near the top.

Cross updates before the holidays

So like most of you, the holiday is near and the cross season is winding down. Most of us are tired, some of us might be going through the motions and still all of us wish there were more races on the schedule. Well. you are in luck at this point.

There has been a race added to the schedule. It is going to be on Dec 6th. Yes Virginia, there is cross racing in Colorado after states now. Being put on by the guys at Without Limits, they are going where no other promotor has dared before.

They are using technology to thier benefit.

They are going to be testing out the "new to cycling but not to runners or any other athlete that lines up with a number on" timing chip system. WOW, you say, they have things that can time a race better than a stop watch and an angry referee??? Yes they do. We have all seen these and know how they work. It might be the best thing in cycling since sliced bread...or Joey Lagano???

So dig deep in the couch cushion for one extra race entry fee and help out the new comers. We need all the new blood coming to cycling that we can get.

Next story is the Alpha Cross race is being moved from "I dont know where Brighton is" to Dove Valley. Where the hell is Dove Valley and wont there be alot of flying birds there? Please click here for the updated flyer and map. Adam does a great job with his races. Pancakes and bacon in the morning...mmmmm bacon. Burgers and dogs in the afternoon. Bouncy house for the kids all day long. This is the same area and parking lot area that the ICCC guys used for the Wheels of Thunder Classic. Bring your "A" game though..lot's of grass, hills and off camber stuff. And dont start complaining about the tryptophan kicking in after stuffing turkey and all the fixins in your grill on Thursday.

Also new at Alpha Bikes are the much balloy-hued Glacier Gloves. Greg over at M&C raved about them about a week ago. The rep has made it south of Boulder...he might be the only one though, and brought great cross stuff to the metro area. Adam currently has the premium cycling glove in stock. Tried them on tonight and they will be very warm. He will also be carrying the poly-pro liner but Glacier is on back order for them. If you need anything cross related, Adam is the shop in town. Pick those gloves up quick, they are sure to go fast.

That is it for now. Off to Vegas for the holidays along with Brian, Vegas (Brian's lovely bride) and Dash. Cynthia is getting married and we are all making the trek down to drink, eat, party and repeat.

FMVC Product Review - The Smooth Away

The backdrop:

So...... Last week I was on the germ tube to Rome.......... Rome, New York. The carrier my lovely company had chosen for me offered TV via a massive 5-inch visual display bolted into the seat that was thrust to 18 inches in front of my grill after the seat evidently just HAD to be reclined by the individual in front of me. So, as I was flipping through channels, I came across an commercial for the Smooth Away, a new way to remove unwanted hair. One viewing and I knew this product just had to be the schniznik. It was discovered in Europe! It was a fast, easy way to remove hair! It comes with it's own carrying case! It even exfoliates as you use it! All for only $14.99! I thought "Wow! A piece or rubber that can exfoliate. Who knew they made rubber that had it's own dead skin cells to shed?"

Fast forward to this week where I am down in Tucson, AZ, stolling through the grocery store in search of some Belgian beer, and what to my wandering eyes see? Ya damn right! And it is only $9.89! So, in the name of better cycling everywhere, I plop down for that bad boy along with my 12'er of Hoegaarden.


The Eval:
1) Packaging -

The pastel colors and the and overall happiness that the lady has using the product put me at ease. But, on closer observastion, that intense look she as as she was going after the upper lip gave me pause. And.... when I think "Sensitive Area" I don't exactly go to the underarm if you know what I mean. However, I tell myself..... This is in the name of CX my man, feel the pain!

The Triple "No"!

The back cover was more of the same. She seemed to be damn happy to be busting the fuzz on her elbow but again pretty intense on the upper lip.

Just exactly how long to you need to use the Smooth Away

before you have the desire to wear pink underwear?

The carrying case. I'm really glad this was included. Really.



Thankfully, I STOP!ed and read the instuctions.
Else I might have ate that Silica packet.

2) Product

Upon close examination, I discovered that what the Smooth Away really is nothing more than a piece of 1000 grit sand paper with a adheasive backing. The fine folks at Smooth Away insist that they are Flex-Crystal Hair Removal Pads, but trust me, this is sand paper.

Large Flex-Crystal Hair Removal Pad... AKA, hand sander.

3) Usage:
So.... great... the plan here is to basically sand the hair off my body. This outta be fun. There was no document titled "Instructions" that could be read carefully as the flyer advised. However there was another document with a whole bunch of words on it that gave hints for better results. The first pointer was "Buff in circular motions. Go clockwise 3 times on one area, and then counter clockwise 3 times in the same area." I am thinking.... "I got this, just like when Pat Morita showed how to "Asand all of floor!". Then my mind briefly flashed to the thought of me hand sanding a "sensitive area".... That might have to wait. For now, lets buff out a leg.

I picked a spot on the left shin, give it 3 clockwise and 3 counter clockwise, and inspected. Still full of hair. Harrumph! Maybe 6 and 6 is the trick? Nope... less hair than before but still there. Maybe 3 and 3 with more pressure? Not really. After many different tests.... it turned out that the secret was major amounts of sanding. 35 minutes later, I got most of the left leg done. And my right shoulder is cooked from all the work. By now, I have totally given up on the "Sensitive Area" test. As middle ground, I worked over some recent road rash. Not the best feeling in the world... but..... getting the original tattoo was more painful.

4) Summary:

Going after your legs with a piece of Sandpaper actually works. Who knew? But, you may want to have last weeks Superprestige race all queued up to watch cause this is going to take a while. Some where along the line, you will want to wear pink underwear.... at least that is what the box shows.

And.... if one of you out there wants to test out that whole "Sensitive Area" concept. Let me know how that works for ya.

Post Thanksgiving Racing Blues

The long Turkey Day holiday is upon us.  That means many people are traveling to parts unknown to visit with friends and family.  I think that's a good idea.  Keep up with the distant loved ones and who knows, you may get an honorable mention in the will.

But with so many people traveling over the holiday, the scarcity of qualified Frites en Mayo cyclocross racers is plummeting like dot-com stock.  I've been hassling my teammates for some commitment and all I get is that Rich, Dash, and Brian are getting married, and that Scott will hand me a beer.  Now I appreciate the beer at anytime during the race and I am happy as can be for the newlyweds.  But, I have been forced to recruit some other riders for this weekend.

I started with this guy because his palmares are as extensive as his Lampre waistline:

He's the personal trainer for Matt Klick so I figure he knows a thing or two about racing 'cross.  If not, he can at least tell me where the nearest donut shop is.  I'm giving him the Frites jersey I shrunk in the wash.  I'm sure it will fit nicely.

Next, I recruited these folks because you can't predict the weather here in Colorado:

They are not riding the Single Speed class but will be entering a new class called Single Wheel.  I expect them to provide some great entertainment and finish in the top 5.  The stoker is actually Katie Compton, I think.

Finally, I had to find a mullet replacement for Brian.  It wasn't as easy as I thought but I called up some of my relatives in West Virginia and they were happy to oblige.

This is a picture of the West Virginia state champion in the men's cat-4 category.  As you can see he has the body of a well trained cyclist (or a meth addict.  kinda hard to discern) and a mullet that Brian can only wet dream about.  I think he will fit in nicely on the Frites team and provide some good results as long as I can keep him away from the farm animals.

Lastly, I thought that Frites needed someone to work the pit area.  After the mudfest last weekend, I would like someone in the pit to give the bikes a good wash.

Yes.  She will do nicely.

Cyclocross video starring Frites en Mayo

A great video shot by KUSA during the latest ICCC cyclocross event at Bear Creek Lake Park.

Dash and Cap'n Slow are sporting the bright red jerseys. And who's that on the snare? None other than the Cap'n himself.

I especially enjoy the sound the guy makes when he crashes over the log barrier!

Alpha CX -Late, Late Report

I spent another week on the germ tube…… so the race reports have been lagging.

Alpha CX is a race promoted by Adam from Alpha Bicycles in Centennial, CO. Alpha Bikes is one of he few bike shops in the Denver area where you can walk in, request a cantilever brake straddle cable, and instead of getting a completely blank look from the mechanic with 3 weeks of OJT, you actually get a fricken straddle cable! If you ask the questions, you will also learn all you ever wanted about brake set-up and what pads work best in what conditions. In other words, Adam, Pat, and the rest of the crew at Alpha Bikes Hobla CX and carry the parts in-stock to keep a CX hound up and running.

The FMVC crew decided that this would be a good race to double-dip. The plan was to run with the herds in the 35+ Cat 4 plus hit the course again with the Single Speeds. In order to be able to be go out and play with those who know not how to shift, I needed to transform the commuter bike (AKA Machete Betty) into something race legal. That first meant a rear brake. I slapped on a canti brake that I had lying in garage. I had pulled it off the commuter a couple years ago when one of the brake arms cracked. If figured if I rub some mud over the crack, no one would be the wiser. Second, it meant turning around the rear wheel that has a flip/flop hub on it. In the 4 years since I built this bike, I have only had it in non-fixie mode for the one time I tried CX practice before I built up the Kona. Needless to say, the single-speed side of the rear wheel was a bit rusty.

Machete Betty is built t around a steel Surly Karate Monkey frame. It pretty much every decision point in the building process, I sacrificed weight for ability to withstand punishment. The bike tips the scales at well north of 30 lbs.

After getting the brakes on and things setup up in the single speed mode, I thought the bike needed some flair. So, I bolted on a plastic cow squeaker horn to the retro 80’s Scott AT-4 bars and suck some stripper cards I hauled back from LasVegas last Interbike in the spokes. Perfect!

The Alpha CX course was out East of Denver…… just before the flat part of the earth. Adam had kept us up to date on the progress of the course. But, as I drove up and parked, I immediately figured out that there was something he did not tell us about….. a hill. Not just a little hill, no this was a huge-ass Clydesdale crushing hill. I looked at that hill, then in the back of the truck at Machete Betty and knew immediately that I was going to want to swap out that rear gear to something a wee tad bigger.

The 35+ 4’s is its typical hugeness. John Haley wins it. He is coming on some fine form as of late. If he could have timed it a month later, he would be tough to beat at States. That win put him over the top points wise and he gets to go run with the 45+ crowd.

At the start of the SS, the FMVC crew is 4 wide with Rich, Dash, Cap’n Slow and I at the back when the whistle blows. By lap number two, Kevin is standing along side the course in regular pants and his FMVC jersey cheering us on. I go by, see Kevin, and think “WTF, there has to be some sort of story there”. Turns out, when Kevin did the quicky conversion of his regularly CX race bike to SS, he honked the chain line and it was dropping the chain every 20 meters. Now….. there is only one person on the team that is a USAC certified mechanic. See if you can guess who that is.

By lap three, I am just far enough ahead of Rich and Dash that we are well within shouting distance as we weave back and forth in a switchback section. They are encouraging me in a sailor’s vocabulary to slow down; I am mocking their weight and telling them to catch up in with equal colorful adjectives in my language. Mothers all around are trying to cover their children’s ears.

By lap four, I look back through the switchbacks and see that it is only Rich. Thinking that he has dropped Dash, I yell at him “Rich! You should never, ever leave your wingman!!!!” It turns out that he did not. Instead, Dash sprained this female genital area and DNF’ed.

Thankfully, things ended shortly thereafter. I was not sure how many more times I was going to get that 30+ lb bike up the hill.

And now for some digital celluloid.

Hi, My name is Adam..... and I build courses to crush Clydesdales.

John Haley, who races for Boulder Cycle

Sport (BCS) won his final 35+ Cat 4 on the day.

Mr. Haley also gets all the work on his bike
done at BCS. The BCS mechanics were either stoned of had a
serious back spasm when they put the non-PRO bar tape on this bike.






A Will Dodd sighting! The H1N1 threw will for a seious loop this year.



Tennis ball in the font spokes.... Check
Stripper Cards in the rear spokes...... Check
Taking Machete Betty for a spin.


Dash and Rich ...... out for a Sunday ride?

All FMVC Recovery programs include chips, salsa, and beer.

I might be getting the hang of this

I haven't written anything for a while, not because I've been spending my spare hours training, but because I've been uninspired.  I've been disappointed in 'cross coverage on the internet and utterly infuriated that not a single "sports" network is carrying anything remotely related to cyclocross.  It will be a happy day when someone decides that cycling is a sport and devotes an hour per week to promoting the sport.

That said, I've made my own news.  No, nothing fictional.  No, I've not made it into the papers nor have acquired a picture on the wall of the post office.  Instead, my news is more sublime, more abstract.  I'm starting to understand 'cross racing.

Now, I hear you snickering.  No, I am not implying I'm fit or have developed some crazy single-track bike handling skills.  Quite the contrary, I'm still slow and the sight of single-track makes me want to turn around go home.  But I'm starting to understand that cross racing is a puzzle made up of several pieces.

For me, the very first piece is the morning meal.  I had neglected this aspect in many races this year.  For the last few races I've been sure to eat more than I would have thought reasonable and drink much much more water/energy drink than I first thought reasonable.  I eat about 4 hours before the race.  That meal has consisted of a bowl of Cream of Wheat, 12oz of juice, some toast and of course, that go fast fuel:  bacon.

I think the bacon has made the most difference.  During the time between the meal and 1 hour 'til start, I'll drink about 24 ounces of sports drink.  At about 30 minutes before the race, I will choke down two gel packs and chase it with about another 12ounces of water.  Yeah, I pee a lot but after such fluid consumption, I've not been dehydrated during the race.

The second piece is the warm-up.  I've tried warming up by NOT riding the course and each time, this has been the result:

So, I started warming up by riding the course.  And not only riding around having a look at the lines and the obstacles, but going hard enough to feel my heart and lungs start working.  I learned that tip from Matt Klick.  I had avoided doing that because I was afraid of going too hard and not having enough gas to make it thru the race.

This leads directly to the start.  Starts in 'cross are flat-ish, have plenty of space on the sides, and usually go about 150 to 200 meters before you have to turn or navigate any obstacles.  I usually line up at the back of the pack because I know I'm going to get passed anyway.

What I'm trying to avoid by lining up in the back is being passed by some Neils Albert wannabe who cuts across my front wheel just to get 37th place.  That's the self-preservation factor kicking in.  I'm not there to win, just to ride as hard as I can and have fun doing so.  I'm there to push myself.  But in the past two races (three if you count Bandido 'Cross), I've made a conscious decision to pass people on the initial start.  And the surprising result has been that I'm away from lots of people that I would otherwise have to pass later on when the course gets tricky.  And the result?  I'm no more tired than usual and I've gained a few positions in the pack.

Another piece that is key to 'cross is the third lap.  I've noticed that by the second lap, the race is starting to break apart.  The fast guys are putting gaps on the mid pack guys and the slow guys (i.e.: Me) are already beginning to fall off.  By the third lap, the gaps are opening up, the passing lanes are not so clogged, and the mid-pack guys that went out too fast are starting to regret having eaten a heavy pre-race meal.

Third lap is a good time to assess my situation.  I've already ridden the course at least 3 times.  I've gotten familiar with the parts of the course that are good for recovery and the parts that are going to require driving my heart rate up into meth-head levels.  Third lap is time to look at the riders ahead of me and see if I can catch them or to sit on the wheel of someone while I wait for the sufferfest to end.

Yet another piece of the 'cross puzzle is the second to last lap.  That's right...2 to go.  At this point I know I can hang on for the remainder of the race.  Everyone is suffering at this point and many of the riders have cracked.  Some of those guys that blew past you on lap two are now starting to come into view.  This is the lap for me to check in with how much I'm hurting and remind myself that I can go even deeper.  Second to last lap is when I try to move around or at least up to the riders in front of me.  Pass a guy now and he's probably not going to stay with you.  I'm picking targets and looking forward to the sections where I know I'm faster than the guys in front of me.  And I'm trying not to throw up.

What about the final lap?  Well, so far, the final lap has been one of riding hard enough not to lose places and, if another rider happens to be just ahead of me, riding hard enough to be in position to overtake if he cracks, runs off course, has a mechanical, or crashes.  Last lap is all about knowing where the other riders are and acting accordingly.  Usually by this time the positions are set and I'm doing little more than trying to finish without incident.

These things came to me after today's race (Veldrijan) in which I passed a fair number of riders and was in a really competitive group of three, each of us pressuring the others.  Save for a mechanical incident (dropped chain), I would have finished one spot higher.  No big deal.  46th place is fine with me.

Dont mess with the King, you young wippersnapper

So we finally have some drama in the cross peloton.

At yesterday's Neil Jaamarktcross race, it appear our boy Neils slips coming up the hill and "pushed, shoved, tapped, moved, impeded" the King onto the barriers and the crowd was none to happy about this. Now this is the King's home town so you know that he is going to get the benefit of the doubt if this happens.

So the boo's begin to rain down on Neils. He in turn gave the "I'm number 1!" salute to the fans. The King catches up and you can watch the rest on the video below.

After the race, Neils make the "veil threat" to quit cyclocross ala Lars Boom because the crowds are so against him and they have no respect....yadda yadda yadda

Now Neils, a few lessons have been learned here:

1 - Dont mess around with the King in his hometown. Let him win and you can win everywhere else.

2 - The #1 salute is so 20th centruy at this point. You need to go all Bart Wellons on these people. They have been drinking Jupiler all day and need to "respect the world stripes"

3 - Dont get done with the race and threaten to take your bike and go home because someone "boo'ed you".

Buck up little camper, the season is just starting and there are more fat, cigarette smoking, beer drinking, crowd booing Belgiums that want to make your life miserable at this point.

And one other thing, please put your helmet on straight kid....

Memorial for a fallen brother this Saturday at 10am

Late last week, ICCC's Don Bartow was involved in a cycling accident and was hit by a car. He lost his battle in the hospital with his family at his side. This was posted on the ACA website from Doug Gordon of Colorado Bike Law.

As some of you have heard, Don Bartow was killed in a cycling accident on Friday. He was one of the first friends that my wife Susannah and I made when we got into cycling several years ago. A lot of you have been asking "was that the guy we rode with at..." and the answer is yes. Check out this photo of Don as he was getting his belt buckle in Leadville.... :)

Don was a fixture at races and weekend rides for years, but he was also one of those guys' who'd ride along with you at Deer Trail RR and keep you company. In 2008 he raced a lot on the road, but chose to focus on MTB races this year, so you might have seen him there. If you ever raced any of the ICCC venues like the CX races or the Wheels of Thunder, you probably saw him there, volunteering for just about everything.

Don was a fabulous guy, would do anything for you, and will be missed very, very much. If you are interested, there's a web site that has served as a communication tool for the family and friends and you can see the entire story of his accident and what they're going through there. If nothing else, when the time comes to race an ICCC race, I hope you might take a moment of time and think of Don. Please join us as we celebrate Don's life and victory into Heaven this Saturday at 10 am at the ICCC Cross race at Pelican Point, Bear Creek Lake Park.

This life is precious as we hear the cliché so often. But it is true. Don was one of us, he was an excellent bike handler with an amazing amount of experience.

That's what's so shocking.

Live your life on purpose...

Round 1 of the MJFTTT Series

This one is for the Colorado front range locals and anyone from Boulder county who owns a Subaru that can make it past the county limits sign.

As part of events this Saturday at the Colorado Veldrijden Crusade, we will be holding the opening round of the Mike Janelle Frozen Turkey Time Trial (MJFTTT). What the hell is the MJFTTT you ask. Well please look here to get a video demonstration and the rules.

There is no required entry fee, but if you want to pay something for the honor of participating (hint, hint), all proceeds from this event will go to the Live Like Mike foundation (LiveLikeMike.org)

Mike Janelle was a truly bad-ass pro cyclist from the Vail area that specialized in endurance road (RAAM) and mountain bike racing. Sadly, in the prime of his life, he died in his sleep of heart failure. Mike left behind his loving wife Maribel and their newborn child, Mike Jr.

The purpose of livelikemike.org is simple ... To pick up financially where Mike left off. To give Maribel and little Mike the push start they need now and the help they will need later on.

Rumor has it this might get recorded on video and then show up on a website that is visited world wide so bring your "A" game.

When cyclocross is in the rear view mirror.....

you too can sit on the beach with a red bull....but where did all of his hair go??

You can be in Curacao or slogging around Belgium in the mud, the sand and the beer

Bandido CX Report

Yeah, I know.... this should have been up last week. But honest, it took a while for me to get the pics from the official Bandido CX photographer.

Rather than go get our heads kicked in by the hordes up at the Boulder Cup an to honor FMVC guideline #3 (It has been violated enough times that it is more of a guideline than a rule), a bunch of us fat slow guys took Matt Sodnicar (he of The Warmfront, Pactimo, etc.) up on his offer to join in on a Bandit CX race called what else but Bandido Cross.

The rules were simple.

1) Show up at Matt's place at the designated date and time.

2) Bring $5 or something you felt was worth at least $5 for entry.

3) There would be a single lap of the course to let you know what it was...... this would also be your warm-up.

4) Race would be 5 laps.

6) Winner gets the first beer.

Turns out, ol Matt has a pretty nice CX course right off his back yard. The 1.3 mile loop has single-track, gravel, paved, sand, a water crossing, and the Ditch of Death. To make things even more fun, the 70 degree temps combined with the foot of snow to make the course full on cross friendly mud.

About half of team FMVC was able to make it. There were Crossniacs, Team Evergreen and a few others.

The first order of business was for all us fat slow guys to take a vote and relegate the one skinny fast guy to start at the very back. Sort of a reverse call-up if you will.

The Crossniacs were laying out their plan for victory in a pre-race conference.

It was decided that a LeMans style start was in order. With the shout of 3-2-1-Go! we were off.

Well, everyone was off except for Mr. Bristol who thought he had better check out the time of the day. What the hell Bristol? Maybe this was some sort diabolical plot by the Crossniacs.

And we are off!

The funnest part of the course was the water crossing. You could run it....

Or you could ride it. Running it was probably quicker, but riding it was a hell of a lot more fun. You dropped in.....

Hit the power.... but....
On the far side of the creek was a 18 inch bank so you had to dismount to get out. Also, hidden under the water right at the bottom of the bank was a nice, front wheel eating hole. I found it on lap 3.

Either way, you were going to get the mud washed off on each lap.

The Duality of Team Crossniac on display. Dash, after careful study choses option A.

The deep water made sure you kept your knees high.

Mr. Sodnicar seem to be rather comfortable with the water crossing..... it's was like it was his home course or something.

It did not get caught on film but Scotty showed up a the finish line completely wet due to a full submersion technique he tried on the last lap.

It turned out that the Crossniac plan for the day was to get muddy and have as much fun as possible.

Post race recover sauce.

To the winner got the spoils. It took Matt Klick a bit over 1.5 laps before he caught and passed all us Old/Fat/Slow guys.

Mr. Sodnicar said that he "needed to go slip into something more comfortable".

As long as Matt keeps putting on Bandido Cross, that is one less day I will have to drive up to Boulder to race each year.