Found this picture of me from the race last Saturday. That mud was thick and rutted. I had just passed the guy behind me and was in the process of pouring it on. The look on my face says it all.

And this is the mud track

CX XILINX

I cyclocrossed today in Longmont at the Xilinx campus. It's one of my favorite venues and the cold was not going to deter me. I think it topped out around 45 degrees. It was a cold 45 because of a slight drizzel and overcast skies. The course which my teammate described to me 2 days ago was bumpy and hardpack no mud. The off and on rain and 4 or 5 races before me softened up the dirt enough and turned one section into a veritable mud bog. I didn't get too much of a warmup as I had a flat tire after 1/2 a practice lap and was forced to do a tire/tube change 15 minutes before the start. I didn't have a great start, starting near the back, and was unprepared for the 0-60 start that is the norm for these races. I just kept it real and did my best not to be last. 1/3 a lap in, my teammate who was in the singlespeed division starting 1 minute behind me comes flying past me. Soon after that, it seemed like the entire singlespeed category had passed me. Whoa, this is going to be a long race I thought. About halfway through the 45 minute ordeal I started to feel better and actually caught and passed some riders. I was relieved when I crossed the line with 1 lap to go. It's almost over. Of course there has to be someone making a last minute dig to pass the next rider up. So I had a battle on my hands and I wasn't going to let him catch or pass me. Everything was clicking on the last lap. No bobbles, slips, or errors. Not sure were I finished but it makes no difference when you are having fun.
Of course all the mud took a toll on the bike and clothes. No pictures unfortunately, but it took me an hour to clean the bike and hose off my shoes. I'll probably have to disassemble the freehub and bottom bracket as they sound horrible.
Snow is forecasted to fall tonight so I should wake up to a white Sunday.
The Pellet stove is kicking out some great heat drying my shoes, clothes, and bike. Even on low it maintains a nice temperature of over 70 degrees in the living areas. here is a video of cross, not the race I did.

Interbike revisited

With all the information overload I was unable to post anything lately. I've since recovered enough to add to to the last post.
Fun, saw lots of people, saw a few friends that I hadn't seen in 20 years, made new friends, saw a ton of new products, drank Fat Tire and a bunch of esspressos, watched a Tim Johnson Cyclocross season documentary, raced a cross race, watched Lance Armstrong race a cross race, took home a bunch of food and product samples, unpacked 10 new waterbottles 7 bottle openers, 2 carbon clothes hangers, titanium cross frame, carbon cross fork, new shoes, 35 business cards, 1 t-shirt, countless decals, 5 posters, 3 beer glasses (one signed by Phil Liggett), enjoyed the warm evenings riding with the dogs, saw some retired european pros (Eddy Merckx, Maurizio Fondriest, Johann Museeuw) as well as many current pros. Made it back home in one piece.

US National Cyclocross champion Tim Johnson telling us he doesn't run for cross training


He's crazy. He's always been crazy. And what on EARTH is he doing?