let the smack talk begin
The Hendersonville UCI cross race is just over a week and a half away, and with most Hoff's in attendence, the smack talk has started. Myself and Kylie, who is flying in from the peoples republic of boulder, had this pleasant exchange via chat earlier:
Kyle: i'd like to ride a little mtb if at all possible
any way we could get me a bike? well if the weathers good
Eric: no doubt, we'll get a mtn bike for you.
Kyle: get me something i can tear your legs off with
Eric: hmmm, don't think i'll find anything like that. i will try to find something that will help you keep up with me though
With the amount of drinking that is planned, the only legs being torn off may be our own.
Kyle: i'd like to ride a little mtb if at all possible
any way we could get me a bike? well if the weathers good
Eric: no doubt, we'll get a mtn bike for you.
Kyle: get me something i can tear your legs off with
Eric: hmmm, don't think i'll find anything like that. i will try to find something that will help you keep up with me though
With the amount of drinking that is planned, the only legs being torn off may be our own.
Salisbury CX Re-Cap: Throwbacks and Throw-ups
The air was crisp, the sun was shining and in 45 minutes, I squeezed out a fat steaming pile of hot fuck. No call-up this time and no starting grid so that meant crossed wheels and handlebars touching handlebars ever so gently during the clusterfisting of a start. Everyone will get a chance to take it up the cornhole so what's the rush? A miserable clip-in sprint debacle saw me running 25th out of 40 or so. I'd yo-yo here and there with the other midpack cannon fodder for the rest of the race. At one time I'm 16th, then a bobble in the woods and I'm 21st. Then a pass on the straightaway and I'm 17th. Then a "what the fuck is this guy DOING?" and I might as well be racing Special Needs 65+ CX7. All griping and swearing aside, the course was tons of fun with a nice mud puddle that looked and smelled like the contents of a tacqueria porta-john. I hoped Tony would redeem us be he did even worse than me in the 4's race. Not much worse, but worse. His pile of hot fuck was not only steaming, but a bit runny as well (even in the 2008 Hoffenchard throwback kit). He should've taken me up on my offer to apply his embrocation for him. Homo-eroticism is Mother Nature's Sportslegs. In his defense, he was caught behind a spectacular crash on the first lap. After Sunday's humiliating performance, it's back to the drawing board. Two weeks before Hendersonville so that means either take this weekend off or get more of the same in Charlotte. Best part of the day was watching a CX4 racer projectile vomit the entirety of his stomach after the race. I thought it a fitting metaphor for Hoffenchard's weekend performance.After a poor showing, Tony renounces his beliefs and reutrns to hardcore Satanism:
Colorado Cross Classic/ Boulder Cup
Both days proved to be quite the sloppy slick mud fest that I was hoping for. Here is what went down.
The course dried out a bit for the Elite men and women with the mid afternoon sun, leaving only one or two sections of slick shit.
Ryan Trebon won a race. Yippie...
Katie Compton won a race. Yawn...
I placed mediocre in the 3s. Obvs.
These two races really do prove that Boulder is one of the best areas in the country for cross. These courses were hard, techie but also fun as hell. They left you spent and having the post race hack but with a smile ear to ear. Add the mud and sunny but chilly weather and you got on hell of a weekend of racing, not to mention the level of competition out here. A Junior, whom started 2 minutes behind the 3s and 1 minute behind the single-speeds, caught and beat both fields. I mean what do they feed these kids out here?!
If you want to get a little more peep this or use the Google machine or check just about any cycling website, duh.
As for me, I may just take a little break from racing, T minus 17days!
The course dried out a bit for the Elite men and women with the mid afternoon sun, leaving only one or two sections of slick shit.
Ryan Trebon won a race. Yippie...
Katie Compton won a race. Yawn...
I placed mediocre in the 3s. Obvs.These two races really do prove that Boulder is one of the best areas in the country for cross. These courses were hard, techie but also fun as hell. They left you spent and having the post race hack but with a smile ear to ear. Add the mud and sunny but chilly weather and you got on hell of a weekend of racing, not to mention the level of competition out here. A Junior, whom started 2 minutes behind the 3s and 1 minute behind the single-speeds, caught and beat both fields. I mean what do they feed these kids out here?!
If you want to get a little more peep this or use the Google machine or check just about any cycling website, duh.
As for me, I may just take a little break from racing, T minus 17days!
Big Weekend.
This weekend is set to be one of the biggest cross weekends here in the front range. We got the Colorado Cross Classic tomorrow at the infamous Res and the Boulder Cup on Sunday at the brand spanking newish Valmont Bike Park. If you've heard or seen, Boulder got a generous dusting of snow this week, generous being around 14". Its steadily been melting with temps reaching the 50s during the day so my guess will be a nice muddy/tacky course tomorrow. Earlier in the week and last week they decided to get a bobcat at literally dig the course out. Should be rad.
Sundays Boulder Cup should also be interesting with Valmont's built in cross features, The Sand Pit, Belgian Steps and the 5280 run up. Peep this of an earlier season race 
I'm pretty pumped for both races but the change in the weather has done work on my sinuses. We'll see..
Sundays Boulder Cup should also be interesting with Valmont's built in cross features, The Sand Pit, Belgian Steps and the 5280 run up. Peep this of an earlier season race 
I'm pretty pumped for both races but the change in the weather has done work on my sinuses. We'll see..
Greenville Cross In the Park #1
Been a somewhat busy cross season here in WNC. We had the Wednesday night training series, and the new Asheville Cyclocross series to keep me busy, as well as the MSG series just over the border to the North in Tennessee. This past weekend was the first race in Greenville of the new Cross In The Park series in Cleveland Park. My kind of course...mix of singletrack and high speed tech stuff with minimal all out power sections. I-9 Drew and Eric from Liberty Bicycles made the trip as well and seeing as how I have raced them a few other times this year I knew it would be tough. Drew was coming off 3 straight wins and Eric is quick Cat 2 that crushed me a few weeks ago at the Pisgah Brewery race. My goal was to get a good start, and then hang on. Little did i know that i would be attacking on the last lap and taking my first win ever.
Start of our race. Only 8 of us, and that quickly whittled down to me, I-9 Drew, Liberty Eric, and 16 year old Charlie Hough.
Coming through a fun little hump on the first lap
Liberty Eric leading us through the singletrack. It was a gradual climb followed by a really fast, fun down hill section (black framed pics courtesy of Brado who was out shooting the race)
Coming through the finish. Note my wife KB wildly clanging her cowbell on stage right! Rode strong and smart but had to use up some luck points...i noticed my rear tire start to steadily lose air about halfway through the race. By the end of the last lap it was rolling all over the place. Afterwards while we sat around and chatted, it gave up and with a little hiss it went completely flat.
Start of our race. Only 8 of us, and that quickly whittled down to me, I-9 Drew, Liberty Eric, and 16 year old Charlie Hough.
Coming through a fun little hump on the first lap
Liberty Eric leading us through the singletrack. It was a gradual climb followed by a really fast, fun down hill section (black framed pics courtesy of Brado who was out shooting the race)
Coming through the finish. Note my wife KB wildly clanging her cowbell on stage right! Rode strong and smart but had to use up some luck points...i noticed my rear tire start to steadily lose air about halfway through the race. By the end of the last lap it was rolling all over the place. Afterwards while we sat around and chatted, it gave up and with a little hiss it went completely flat.
Tuesday lunch ride
Just a few shots from the lunch ride today over to Terry's Gap and through the hills surrounding work. Also, I ran over a squirrel.
Frisco CX Report
Frisco, the wonderful land of altitude sits at out 9,000ish feet. So thin air would been an issue. I was there most of the day representing The Pros Closet so I had pretty much the whole day to acclimate myself. It was a beautiful day, mid 70s slightly overcast, hardly Colorado at altitude in October.
The race was put on at the Frisco Nordic Center and they added to the coolness fact by using old ski poles as all and I mean ALL the course markers.
Plenty of time to relax before my 4oclock start time.
So... some how or another I managed to crash pretty well going through the series of 5 small telephone pole sized barrier half way through the first lap while I was sitting about 8th. My bike found its way in the center of the course while I was outside the course tape, wtf?! So after the majority of the field had passed I was able to get my bike and continue on. Shit! Chain's off! and I mean off, not even touching my crank, just hanging by the derailleur. It took me a second to get it back on. Once I was up and going I was sitting dead last with probably a minute to the next guy and seeing the SS class rounding the corners behind me. Once I got going I knew I was in for a rough day.
Amazingly the legs answered my call. I was making up ground and doing it fast! I had guys trying to hang onto my wheel on the long paved up hill. After crushing it for about 40 minutes I had clawed my way back to 15th. In my opinion I think I can call that a successful race, the legs and lungs felt good, I was railing turns and clipping back in first attempt. The only thing I could think was, If only...
Now I'm not quite sure what clicked, I can only hope that it will click again.
USGP this weekend in Ft.Collins!
The race was put on at the Frisco Nordic Center and they added to the coolness fact by using old ski poles as all and I mean ALL the course markers.
Plenty of time to relax before my 4oclock start time.The course was a mix of long paved climbs, mulch covers single track, gravel/sand pits and some pretty gnarly loose rocky down/up hills.
So... some how or another I managed to crash pretty well going through the series of 5 small telephone pole sized barrier half way through the first lap while I was sitting about 8th. My bike found its way in the center of the course while I was outside the course tape, wtf?! So after the majority of the field had passed I was able to get my bike and continue on. Shit! Chain's off! and I mean off, not even touching my crank, just hanging by the derailleur. It took me a second to get it back on. Once I was up and going I was sitting dead last with probably a minute to the next guy and seeing the SS class rounding the corners behind me. Once I got going I knew I was in for a rough day.
Amazingly the legs answered my call. I was making up ground and doing it fast! I had guys trying to hang onto my wheel on the long paved up hill. After crushing it for about 40 minutes I had clawed my way back to 15th. In my opinion I think I can call that a successful race, the legs and lungs felt good, I was railing turns and clipping back in first attempt. The only thing I could think was, If only...
Now I'm not quite sure what clicked, I can only hope that it will click again.
USGP this weekend in Ft.Collins!
Mills River
Josh and I headed over to North Mills River last Thursday to photograph Stage 3 of the Pisgah Stage Race, which covered Spencer Branch and Gap, Fletcher Creek, Trace Ridge, and Bear Branch. There was a pretty good showing of some baller pros and locals, which made for an exciting couple of hours in the woods. We set up on an exposed rock face section of Lower Trace and I can only be blamed for causing one wreck the entire day (sorry!! You're supposed to look at the trail while racing, not the photographer!). After shooting Josh had to be a good house husband and run some errands so I did a short solo loop up FS 5000 and Spencer Branch and "down" Trace. I use "down" loosely, bc although it's considered a downhill there is prob more climbing on it than on the while Tsali loop that I rode earlier last week. And as it was a Thursday, of course it was followed up by Papas & Beer.
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