medio tiempo... à temps partiel... a orario ridotto... at the half

well, since i didn't get express written consent of major league baseball, no pictures of cam-rock state park cyclo-cross due to the potential for copyright infringement... ok, fine i forgot the camera again. maybe some ARTIST RENDERINGS will help!

i didn't go saturday to whitewater, but sunday was muddy enough even though it had stopped raining. (throw in obtuse u2 reference for this shot:)

muddy mudskipper was right in it. note the funky carry-the-bike-on-the-drivetrain-side style. (throw in frank zappa as the pope being rescued by powdered toast man reference here:)

due to the blackout restrictions on tv coverage, a courtroom sketch artist daubed together this lovely tapestry depicting the race through the medieval city of cambridge:

ok, that's really courtesy of www.philippeseutin.be

well, cam-rock represents the half way point of the season. i had my soigneur's intern crunch some numbers for me. really puts into perspective where i stand.

this first one compares my finish with the total number of riders in each race:

this one, my average finish percentile,

so, as you can see, i'm really sucking quite handily.

here's to a great second half!

another race, another "incident"

Moe's Burrito Cyclo-Cross race sponsored by CZ Velo Club at Lapam Peak state park in delafield, wisconsin was saturday. cat4. start area was narrow & undulating. you can prolly guess what happened next. no pictures, so... LIFE-LIKE RECREATIONS!

first 50 meters... no problem. just as i was latching on to a wheel to follow through to the actual loop, another rider came up between the rows...

somehow, my front wheel turned 90 degrees, and i spun out. luckily, wasn't going fast enough yet to endo.

i tried to remout right away, but my rear wheel wouldn't turn, the reason
for which wasn't readily apparent. that's when i noticed my knee really hurt and was reminded of the advice from my friend Joe "if you go down, stay down!" of course, i went down 'cause i didn't remember the advice from my friend Hans "just keep pedaling!"

after quite a while of pain, i finally could think straight & found the problem with the rear wheel: a spring lever had spurng, sending the brake caliper into the spokes. since the team car had already passed and there was no neutral service to be found, i got the rear brake re-assembled and was off.

funny thing was that by that time, the spectators who had watched the start (and had been quite nice and offered to help me, but i was too busy swearing to accept any help) were walking the course up to the loop. so, i shouldered the bike and just trotted past through the weeds (er, "prairie restoration"). "excuse me. look out please! pardon!" sorry to the guy i whacked in the shoulder with my rear wheel on the way by.

i'm really not sure where i finished. after thinking about it, i was probably two laps down. i aksed the offical who was at the start if i took anyone else down with me, he didn't think so, so that's good.

in the parking lot, a guy asked "how'd it go?" of course i bitched about crashing during the start. he went on to tell me that he missed the race because of a mess up with when it was supposed to start. i'm told some of the flyers said 10am while others said 10:30am.

so, lesson learned. guess there's always someone a little worse off than you are. oh well. maybe i'll do better at brazen's race on sunday.

my first race. ever. of any kind.

1 october 2006. i had a blast at BADGER-CROSS cyclo-cross race in Verona, WI, the first race of the 2006 WCA cyclo-cross series. thank-you Margo & Marlone for cheering for me. I love you.
i'm in the red jersey at top of frame:

photo courtesy: Renee Callaway

also, cheapau (as well as photo courtesies) to clinic & race organizer Renee Callaway & all of her volunteers for such a cool event.

photo courtesy: Renee Callaway

thanks to the guy who helped me pin my bib number on the back of my jersey properly... WHILE WE WERE ON THE START LINE!

Mike Meccia (#155) and i duked it out for the balance of the 30 minutes:

photo courtesy: Margo Barcheski

sorry to the guy i ran into during the start (i think it was a stoton rider... well, at least i didn't knock him over, just took him off of his line a little).

note the bad form over the barrier... the seat shouldn't be under the arm, but away from the body. but, at this point, i couldn't have cared less:

photo courtesy: Margo Barcheski

as rider #101, i ran in USAC Category 4. 53rd out of 63 and surprisingly didn't get lapped.

http://www.madcross.org/badgercross06results.htm

unfortunately, i can't seem to find a photo of me crashing into the first set of barriers. (i'd actually pay good money for that).

for those of you who aren't familiar with cyclo-cross, here's a couple more of Renee's pictures that will give a feel for what goes on.

Lewis Clark, a parent of one of Margo's students (small world), portages the sand trap on his way to a 27th place finish:

get off and run some more, this time up hill over some logs...

and be careful on the exit of the chicane:

Category 3 men's race over the barriers:

bike reflectors, a little crome, the right sun angle and a dirty lens maks a pretty cool shot: for more wisconsin 'cross action:

www.madcross.org

www.wicycling.org/

www.cyclocrossworld.com