video courtesy of cross beast Chance Noble.
If this doesn't get you fired up for cyclocross season nothing will. One week from tomorrow! CANNOT wait.
Off to black bear rampage. Hope I don't die! Wish me luck!
Dee
Thursday, September 25, 2008
You know is cyclocross season when.....
Monday, September 22, 2008
The big hurt
SO in case you haven't noticed, the weather is finally venturing in the direction of fall. Yay, that means cool weather, mudd and knobby tires. To keep this post short given the abnormally HUGE amounts of homework I still have to catch up on from the hurricane stranding I endured while visiting Ohio for what I thought was the weekend. Simply put this weekend was a blast. Nothing but eating crap, riding bikes up and down mountains (on trails aka mountain biking), visiting the local Piggly Wiggly, and every so often picking myself slowly from the dirt. What a blast!
Until I have time to fully post a decent blog post worthy of your time and my effort Ill leave you with some fun pictures of my soon to be cross-mates on our "bonding" trip to the Ocoee! Black Bear Rampage next weekend then off to start my cross season in Tennessee! UH OH!
Mike and I... enjoying ourselves at the Ducktown Piggly Wiggly
My crash site. From what I am told, I am alright at the whole mountain biking thing. If you look closely you can see the resemblence of a smiley face within the bruising. It was mor noticable this morning but it slowly became less obvious as blood started accumulating to the surface. Oh well. In case you were wondering, I have a similarly interesting bruise on my back where the bike landed on me. OH WELL!
Until I have time to fully post a decent blog post worthy of your time and my effort Ill leave you with some fun pictures of my soon to be cross-mates on our "bonding" trip to the Ocoee! Black Bear Rampage next weekend then off to start my cross season in Tennessee! UH OH!
Mike and I... enjoying ourselves at the Ducktown Piggly Wiggly
My crash site. From what I am told, I am alright at the whole mountain biking thing. If you look closely you can see the resemblence of a smiley face within the bruising. It was mor noticable this morning but it slowly became less obvious as blood started accumulating to the surface. Oh well. In case you were wondering, I have a similarly interesting bruise on my back where the bike landed on me. OH WELL!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Tough Days on the trails...
First things first. Pro champs weekend went off without a hitch. Not only did I get a chance to meet some great sponsors in Andy Woolard of Barkley, spend some time with my awesome teammates and my new family here in Greenville, everyone at Hincapie Sportswear, but I got a chance to chat with George for the first time since he got back from Europe. It was a tough day in the saddle for him, and in the end the Garmin onslaught got the best of him. I guess that is the power of numbers.
This weekend on the other hand was a more "painful" enjoyment when it came to bike racing. I got a chance saturday to head up to Chattanooga to train with my coach Kym, who rides with Vantaggio/Specialized Womens Mountain Bike team, and her husband Mark. After a day of entertaining them with "developing" mountain bike skills, we headed to Nashville for the Loc 4 Challege mountain bike race. For those of you skeptics saying, ahhh mountain biking, how fun. It can't be that hard. Right? I snarl at you for you being a complete and utter fool. It was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I never thought 14-16 miles could hurt so much. In the end I went from heading into the first single track in third place to being last by the end of the last lap. How fun. Sure come right by. It's all good. I'm not demoralized or anything. In the end, my fitness kicked in and I was able to work my way back into the top half and finish a respectable 7th place. Not a bad day for only having ridden a mountain bike three or four times this year in my opinion. Not to mention I got to crash once and I witnessed what happens when someone snaps a steerer tube in a mountain bike race. Lets just say, it's so much worse than just getting some road rash.
On a semi-bike related note, if you get a chance check my updated links here on the blog. I got some time tonight to get up a link to Kym's team blog for the Vantaggio/Specialized Professional Womens Mountain Bike team, as well as a link to one of the nicest and most personable sponsor relations people I have ever met, Andy Woolard who works for our co-title sponsor Barkley. Finally I thought I would show Scotty and the guys at Hincapie/Coca Cola the respect the deserve. So check it out and if you get a chance take a look at their pages. If it weren't for these people, I wouldn't be where I am as a racer, and wouldn't be going in the amazing direction I am going today. To all of you, thanks for a great season!
Time to start looking at more off road fun. I just spent the past half hour registering for a endurance mountain bike rage (Black Bear Rampage), three UCI cyclocross races (Ohio UCI Cyclocross Festival in October) as well as this weekends cross race in the motherland of Ohio. I think that's enough run on sentances for one day! Look for some more updates this week.
Until Later
-Dee-
This weekend on the other hand was a more "painful" enjoyment when it came to bike racing. I got a chance saturday to head up to Chattanooga to train with my coach Kym, who rides with Vantaggio/Specialized Womens Mountain Bike team, and her husband Mark. After a day of entertaining them with "developing" mountain bike skills, we headed to Nashville for the Loc 4 Challege mountain bike race. For those of you skeptics saying, ahhh mountain biking, how fun. It can't be that hard. Right? I snarl at you for you being a complete and utter fool. It was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I never thought 14-16 miles could hurt so much. In the end I went from heading into the first single track in third place to being last by the end of the last lap. How fun. Sure come right by. It's all good. I'm not demoralized or anything. In the end, my fitness kicked in and I was able to work my way back into the top half and finish a respectable 7th place. Not a bad day for only having ridden a mountain bike three or four times this year in my opinion. Not to mention I got to crash once and I witnessed what happens when someone snaps a steerer tube in a mountain bike race. Lets just say, it's so much worse than just getting some road rash.
On a semi-bike related note, if you get a chance check my updated links here on the blog. I got some time tonight to get up a link to Kym's team blog for the Vantaggio/Specialized Professional Womens Mountain Bike team, as well as a link to one of the nicest and most personable sponsor relations people I have ever met, Andy Woolard who works for our co-title sponsor Barkley. Finally I thought I would show Scotty and the guys at Hincapie/Coca Cola the respect the deserve. So check it out and if you get a chance take a look at their pages. If it weren't for these people, I wouldn't be where I am as a racer, and wouldn't be going in the amazing direction I am going today. To all of you, thanks for a great season!
Time to start looking at more off road fun. I just spent the past half hour registering for a endurance mountain bike rage (Black Bear Rampage), three UCI cyclocross races (Ohio UCI Cyclocross Festival in October) as well as this weekends cross race in the motherland of Ohio. I think that's enough run on sentances for one day! Look for some more updates this week.
Until Later
-Dee-
Thursday, August 21, 2008
A seasons end is a new ones bloom....
So I DID IT! What did I do you might ask? Well I can tell you what I didn't do. I surely did not win Espoir Nationals. If you thought that possible I scoff at you. In fact only 17 guys finished the race if that tells you anything on the experience out west. I also undoubtedly did NOT win Espoir or Elite Crit Champs. As a matter of fact I got caught behind, but nimbly (and stylishly I might add) complete annihilation of body, mind, and expensive carbon parts by attempting to bunny hop some large man in blue. Sadly I didn't make it completely over him and proceeded to run over him. I am pretty sure my train of thought went as follows "Dave Scared! Dave smash smurf dude! Dave needs to clean chamois! Dave chases up to teammate Talbot only to be outsprinted to the line by the tiny guy!" To make it better I arrived at the airport only to realize my flight wasn't scheduled until the following day. Sweet. Hey Mr. Delta Airlines, break me some more. I appreciate it. I hope you die... Yeah. California is dead to me now. I truly HOPE that place falls off the continent and goes to chill with Hawaii.
Crit champs was crit champs. My legs were ABSOLUTELY FRIED, but I managed to ride comfortably near the front attempting to work for the Hincapie- Coke guys as I was the sole rider of my team there. Yay for racing alone. So much for motivation....
In the end some stupidity happened and my season went up in utter oblivion 10 laps early. Some guy from somewhere won the race.... I wouldnt know who, I was already eating a burger and having a ginormous chocolate muffin, and putting on as much weight as possible before cross starts in two weeks time. Yeah. It was wonderful! Oh and for shear enjoyment, I had one of these on the way home!
Thankfully my parents came with me to watch me DNF my last race of the season. Even better was the fact that it was the only race they saw me race all season. Awesome....
If pictures for races one DNF's are acceptable, here are some my dad took with his new snazzy camera!
This one is sweet because Steve Tilford (aka the crosser who found the fountain of youth/most likely to take over the world) and the other guy are gritting their teeth like they are towing a large bus or fire truck by they seatpost!
See... I was at the front!
Field was pretty big. MAbout double the pro race....?
So I am sure you are asking me what next. Well what I can tell you is that for now I am getting fat and waiting...... thats right..... waiting for the most anticipated season since I started riding my bike!
Need I say more?
Crit champs was crit champs. My legs were ABSOLUTELY FRIED, but I managed to ride comfortably near the front attempting to work for the Hincapie- Coke guys as I was the sole rider of my team there. Yay for racing alone. So much for motivation....
In the end some stupidity happened and my season went up in utter oblivion 10 laps early. Some guy from somewhere won the race.... I wouldnt know who, I was already eating a burger and having a ginormous chocolate muffin, and putting on as much weight as possible before cross starts in two weeks time. Yeah. It was wonderful! Oh and for shear enjoyment, I had one of these on the way home!
Thankfully my parents came with me to watch me DNF my last race of the season. Even better was the fact that it was the only race they saw me race all season. Awesome....
If pictures for races one DNF's are acceptable, here are some my dad took with his new snazzy camera!
This one is sweet because Steve Tilford (aka the crosser who found the fountain of youth/most likely to take over the world) and the other guy are gritting their teeth like they are towing a large bus or fire truck by they seatpost!
See... I was at the front!
Field was pretty big. MAbout double the pro race....?
So I am sure you are asking me what next. Well what I can tell you is that for now I am getting fat and waiting...... thats right..... waiting for the most anticipated season since I started riding my bike!
Need I say more?
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Hurrah nationals
Nothing like cresting the mountains of lovely california looking into the smog ridden...I mean pleasantly hazy valley of Los Angeles after a 4 hour flight next to a girl who doesn't speak a lick of english and having been up since 3 am eastern time chock full of a couple pounds of chocolate cake from the night prior. I guess its time for nationals. That means no more cake. :(
Until later, keep your eyes on some updates from sunny california.
Time to find me bike at LAX. Not fun. Good luck to the teammates not flying and not taking the bus because the transmissions toast. Should be a helluva drive.
DEE
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
R, R and R
Rest, Relaxation, and Racing. After a much needed and awaited break from the bike I was back in action this weekend. The 4th of July went extremely well and was a blast. Nothing like a day at the pool with beautiful ladies, cool people, and vito (who applies to none of the above) to take your mind off the business and stress that is life. It was quite the evening viewing every fireworks display between Atlanta and greenville from vito's condo balcony. Good times.
This past weekend marked my return to Atlanta (which seems to be turning into my second home) and more importantly my return to racing in preparation for nationals. Friday gave way too a heck of a good time at Red Light Cafe where Erica, the ever talented and lovely roommate of Kelly's showed how amazingly talented she is at the whole music thing. Check her out, she wont disappoint!
Saturday provided quite possibly the closest thing to hell-Esq weather possible. Thank god we had a nice unshaded highway road race to do! Yeah. Cool. TO make things better I ended up making the chase group of just three that spent the entire race dangling just 30 seconds off the winning break. 30 seconds... no big deal right? Hahaha. Yeah, big deal. After cursing myself for even making the split, let alone contributing stupidly to our futile death march to the finish, I crossed a good yet disappointing 6th place. Ill let the picture express how happy I was rolling across the finish.
The feeling I had the following morning for the crit was much much less than enthusiastic. After stumbling through Kelly's scrounging what I needed for whatever concoction of oatmeal I could create for the days meal, the two of us loaded up the pimp wagon saturn and headed for the race. 10 minutes into the sunny sunday morning drive I recieve what would be my most motivating and overjoying message imaginable:
"It's on like donkey kong...It's pouring rain at the course, hope your ready...kisses---Vito" ok, maybe I added the kisses. But it rained none the less.
After an hour and fifteen minute delay racing began. Plan was for me to try and force a move up the road, and if nothing was rolling then just set vito up for the sprint. Attempt after lazy assisted attempt three laps to go hit. I set up shop with vito just off the back of the Latino sprint train. On the final lap we were set perfectly for the win (mistake #1) , vito came along and told me to hop on his wheel, which I did. In turn two Latino pudgy sprinter overshot it and somehow kept it up, but dropped me right into the leadout train of Kanckle legged guys (mistake #2). Coming into the final turn vito came along side me and I knew it was on. I let a small gap open for him and next thing I know I am getting kamikazied by some Latino crackhead and heading for the curb. Rather than playing my normal yelling, elbow throwing self I check up (mistake #3 and biggest of all) from there it was 400 meters to the line. The sprint started, I missed it, and rolled in 7th. Bummer. Vito salvaged fourth on the day and end the end it turned out the way we thought it would. Could haves suck but I feel if I hadn't been dive bombed and if there had been money up on the finish I would have been on the podium or even better. Whatever. Finally I had to post the most imspiring explanation of crashing in bike racing I have ever heard courtesy of Jon Vaughters of slipstream...
"Next time your driving in your car at 50 mph, strip down to your underwear, open the door and jump out, thats what crashing in professional bike racing is like" Thanks John! Well said!
Photos courtesy of Kelly and truespeedphoto.com
Well for now this will have to do. Sorry for the long winded post, I am bored and waiting for my brunch to digest so I can go do my VO2 workout! Wahoo. Check back, more racing, boredom, and less than interesting babbling to come!
This past weekend marked my return to Atlanta (which seems to be turning into my second home) and more importantly my return to racing in preparation for nationals. Friday gave way too a heck of a good time at Red Light Cafe where Erica, the ever talented and lovely roommate of Kelly's showed how amazingly talented she is at the whole music thing. Check her out, she wont disappoint!
Saturday provided quite possibly the closest thing to hell-Esq weather possible. Thank god we had a nice unshaded highway road race to do! Yeah. Cool. TO make things better I ended up making the chase group of just three that spent the entire race dangling just 30 seconds off the winning break. 30 seconds... no big deal right? Hahaha. Yeah, big deal. After cursing myself for even making the split, let alone contributing stupidly to our futile death march to the finish, I crossed a good yet disappointing 6th place. Ill let the picture express how happy I was rolling across the finish.
The feeling I had the following morning for the crit was much much less than enthusiastic. After stumbling through Kelly's scrounging what I needed for whatever concoction of oatmeal I could create for the days meal, the two of us loaded up the pimp wagon saturn and headed for the race. 10 minutes into the sunny sunday morning drive I recieve what would be my most motivating and overjoying message imaginable:
"It's on like donkey kong...It's pouring rain at the course, hope your ready...kisses---Vito" ok, maybe I added the kisses. But it rained none the less.
After an hour and fifteen minute delay racing began. Plan was for me to try and force a move up the road, and if nothing was rolling then just set vito up for the sprint. Attempt after lazy assisted attempt three laps to go hit. I set up shop with vito just off the back of the Latino sprint train. On the final lap we were set perfectly for the win (mistake #1) , vito came along and told me to hop on his wheel, which I did. In turn two Latino pudgy sprinter overshot it and somehow kept it up, but dropped me right into the leadout train of Kanckle legged guys (mistake #2). Coming into the final turn vito came along side me and I knew it was on. I let a small gap open for him and next thing I know I am getting kamikazied by some Latino crackhead and heading for the curb. Rather than playing my normal yelling, elbow throwing self I check up (mistake #3 and biggest of all) from there it was 400 meters to the line. The sprint started, I missed it, and rolled in 7th. Bummer. Vito salvaged fourth on the day and end the end it turned out the way we thought it would. Could haves suck but I feel if I hadn't been dive bombed and if there had been money up on the finish I would have been on the podium or even better. Whatever. Finally I had to post the most imspiring explanation of crashing in bike racing I have ever heard courtesy of Jon Vaughters of slipstream...
"Next time your driving in your car at 50 mph, strip down to your underwear, open the door and jump out, thats what crashing in professional bike racing is like" Thanks John! Well said!
Photos courtesy of Kelly and truespeedphoto.com
Well for now this will have to do. Sorry for the long winded post, I am bored and waiting for my brunch to digest so I can go do my VO2 workout! Wahoo. Check back, more racing, boredom, and less than interesting babbling to come!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
NO BRAKES!!
Thats right... John Kelly has twisted my arm long enough. Im hitting the banks and giving track racing a go!
The rig is near ready. All I need is a track rear wheel and crank and I am GOOD to ROLL!
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