Zoo

Took Drew to the Zoo last Saturday.  Best part was even with gorillas running around right in front of him it was the other children running around he was most interested in.

Although he did like the bears (below).

Monday Ridin’

Tacchino was a blast.  The course at Rosaryville was better than I expected and I hope Coppi can repeat there next year.  Had most everything you’d want at a cross race.

1.  Beer, obviously.

2. A little bit of tech off-camber stuff, some at high speed, some at low speed.

3. Power sections – gravel and pavement.

4. Tight fast turns, slow turns.

5.  Some mud.

System Six for Sale

2008 System Six road bike – 60cm
Frame is practically brand new (3 months old) – it was a replacement frame because my original frame developed a superficial crack in the clear coat. Cannondale was good enough to warranty it for me.

Components:
SRAM Rival drive train and brakes/levers.

Yokozuna cables/housing increase the performance of shifting and braking and are only 3 months old.

Cannondale C2 carbon wrapped seatpost

Cannondale C3 stem (120mm length)

Fizik Arione saddle

Ritchey DS Pro wheels (these are several years old, but true, stiff, and roll great – a solid wheelset that has held up great).

Vittoria Revolution KXS tires

The right brake lever and cranks have normal wear-and-tear scuffs. The frame is spotless though and all together the bike is awesome shape.

More information about the specs and geometry can be found here:
http://www3.cannondale.com/bikes/08/cusa/model-8RST4D.html

Finally,

some justice

All Hallows CX 3/4 short video

All Hallows CX 3/4, originally uploaded by eaelupus.

This was the first lap when the 3/4 men were exiting the single track. Speeds weren’t very high given the sloppy, wet conditions, but the course was a lot of fun and required concentration to avoid getting sideways and hitting the deck.

All Hallows – “Chip Hoover” Experiment

This past summer Chip Hoover traveled with his daughter and Lance Lacy to race in North Carolina – sans Mommy.  The experiment: 2 Men and a Baby.

Saturday I decided to give this a go.  I made the logistical plans with Kim and Judd.  She would have a day to herself and Judd, Drew, and I would travel an hour south to race the All Hallows CX.  The rain made travel slow and playtime at the race less than desirable, but the experiment was a success.  Drew, as usual, was happy and mellow – content to be held beneath an umbrella and watch bike riders going in seemingly random directions.  Judd had about 10-15 minutes of warm up but had a secret weapon.  He was still drunk from the night before.  Using this beer-power he paced himself early and allowed the alcohol to fuel his muscles…kind of like an alcohol funny car only at slow motion.  He took 3rd and this was in conditions that one could easily be allowed to assume would not be to his advantage – slippery, sometimes rooty, and slow.  Take notice all those staying off the sauce to hope for greater achievements.  Steve “I’m on Fire” Fife and “The Todd” Todd Bickling finished a 8th and 11th respectively.  Fife was not too psyched to see Judd beat him given how little Judd’s done to prepare himself for racing this season (using the minimal-training-plan) and specifically for this race by showing up hung over and with 30 minutes until go time.  Like roid-range this one time fluke was likely due to beer strength.

My race prep included getting the umbrella jammed in the hatch back of Judd’s VW, giving Drew his bottle, changing his diaper, and passing him off to Judd.  I rode around the start/finish area and then we were off.  I’ll spare the long-winded blow-by-blow…I won.  The course was a lot fun.  No terrain to speak of but they made good use of what they had including a barn ride-through, a rooty single track section, and a sandy horse corral of sorts.

So, lessons learned.  #1 Don’t put an umbrella near an auto latching hatch back.  #2 Drinking the night before a race is akin to carb loading.  #3 Diaper changes can suffice for warming up.

An alternative to Judd’s approach, but perhaps more effective is the knowledge that you will get drunk after your race rather than before.  Jared Nieters followed this game plan perfectly…taking the W in the Elite Mens field and then throwing back copious amounts of alcohol at the Reef later that night.

 

 

A bit grainy, but you can see Drew was briefly subjected to parental Halloween abuse.  He was dressed up as Count Boobula – a nickname Kim and I came up with sometime ago given Drew’s ravenous appetite.

Hallow

Halloween Eve – which is kind of redundant.  Drew and I had some fun at the park this morning.

 

Rocking my costume at the office pre-Halloween-lunch party.

Just  a gratuitous pic on the CX rig just because.

Squats

Squats, originally uploaded by eaelupus.

Drew has been working on his standing like its his job. Well, I guess it kind of is. All day he does this…stand, squat or sit, stand, repeat. He has woken during the night and gone right back to it. Practice makes perfect. Place your bets…mine is he’ll be walking by Christmas.

DCCX

I am biased (since I have many friends on DCMTB), but DCCX is my favorite cross race and I think argueable the best of the MABRA series.

Great venue.  Great course.  Great beer and food (free – hard to beat).  Great weather the past 3 years and the late October timing means the fall foliage is near peak.  Just a fun atmosphere with great racing.

Matt working reg – Rider warming up – Eary racing starts – Drew ready for some CX

More babies, Chip and Addie – some cat 4 racing – Pooch working hard (trying to stay warm)

Some pix from the Killer Bs (cat 3/4).  Props to Matty for finishing 13th after promoting this race and working his arse off the past few weeks (and especially the last 2 days).

Kyle (3rd) – Matt (13th) – Fife (25th)

Fife chasing Matt – Steven (8th) – Judd (20th)

Venue headquarters (i.e. beer) – Fife and Judd practicing post race recovery (boozing)

Drew drew bean