David Yow

David Yow
Originally uploaded by Rudie Cantfail

New Year's Eve at Metro, Jesus Lizard's last show? We'll see.

Touch me I'm sick

Missed last weekend's cyclocross fiesta at Indian Lakes, which by all accounts was a blast of a race. (Kudos to the South Chicago Wheelmen!) Haven't done anything cardio-related for two weeks. Have to listen to my wife nag me about going to the doctor because she thinks I have walking pneumonia or something like that.

Finally heading to the doctor tomorrow.

N'brook vid-eo

I'm in this one, look for the fat guy.

2009 Northbrook Chicago Cyclocross Cup from grayson smith on Vimeo.

Crikey

I can't explain why I requested the upgrade other than I'd like to have longer races and I am a glutton for punishment, but I'm now a Cat 3 in cyclocross. The beatings will be that much more painful, I fear . . . at least I'll be making Dave, Al, Zach, Adrian, and Tim look that much better.

Question from last weekend

From Ben:

"You're hooked, aren't you?"

I'm not hooked, I'm absolutely obsessed. I don't even look at road or mountain bikes and equipment any more, except as it fits into the world of CX.

Why didn't I start racing cyclocross ten years ago?

Northbrook

Ten o'clock this morning I decided that I'd better take care of my mud-encrusted bike for today's cross race in Northbrook. Yeah, mud still left over from Campton, I know that a guy who was technically a professional mechanic just a few years ago would normally have taken care of the bike immediately after returning from the previous race but hey, sometimes it takes a little procrastination to get things moving here.

After a half hour's worth of hosing off the bike and shoes, I cleaned out the Element. Kristina left with the little one to meet her parents for lunch, and I set off for the 28 mile/1+ hour drive northeast to Northbrook.

The trip was actually pretty easy, considering the amount of traffic on the roads for a Sunday. Where are all these people going? Bike races? Made it to the course in just over an hour. I'm still amazed that the cruising speed on I90 is about 80mph.

Saw Josh in the parking lot, met up with new HAC guy Matt from Wheaton, and rode over to the registration area. Signed in, met up with the rest of the team, asked questions about the course. From the pre-week vibe, I thought nobody would like the course, but as it turned out people seemed to think it was pretty good. We watched Ben finished second (I think) in the 1/2/3 race, and then lined up for the start of the 4A race. Talked with Steve from South Chicago Wheelmen for a while at the start, always a good time catching up with him.

Race start -- go -- redline -- dang. I got stuck behind a brutally slow guy during the first wooded section, and ended up having to gas it too hard around corners to maintain position with everyone in the opposite line. People, rolling through the corners and holding some semblance of a line makes things easier for all involved -- and when you're going really slow, holding a line shouldn't be that hard, right? Wait, I'm usually the one who's going really slow, right? Scratch those thoughts. All's good, it is racing and it is up to me to get around slow riders.

Hit a low-hanging tree limb with the top of my helmet before the first barrier, ran over the barrier, went to get back on the bike and immediately thought "oh crap, there's a ravine, maybe I should try remounting after that instead of now." Of course, five people got around me there. (edit: Come to think of it, Gavin got around me there at the crest of the hill.)

Pretty much from that first ravine on, my race was pretty much a time trial. Somehow I had still gapped a small group of people by that point, Gavin had already gapped me, and while I did play leapfrog with a few riders, nothing terribly memorable happened before we got lapped (f-ing LAPPED in a 4A race? humiliating!) towards the end of our fourth lap. I sort of laid the bike down on the double-hairpin-off-camber section, and I f-ed up one dismount by not getting clipped out before I tried to start running, but really nothing of note. The sand pits were a non-issue, I was able to locate packed-down lines through the pits every time.

So I'm still waiting for results to be posted. I really have no idea how close to the back I finished, but that's not the point of these races right now. It's fun, I'm generally getting better at the mounts and dismounts, and being part of the crowd for the 4B race would be worth paying real money for.

Next week and the double double

So I'm thinking . . . next week is the Bloomingdale Chi Cross Cup race on Saturday, and Sunday is a Wisco CX race in Janesville. I'm doing the M40+ Cat 4 and the Cat 4 in Janesville, but what about Saturday?

I'm kind of thinking of doing the M40+, and then both the 4A and 4B races. The triple on Saturday and then a double on Sunday. Yeah, I hurt a little more on Sunday, but WTH . . . it's not about results right now anyway.