some are all cozy on their break, while the real racers are still out.

Dustin takin a header at harbin park, cincy Nick leapin some barriers at Sunset Park, Cincy
Todd making an attack at Sunset Park, Cincy
Jake thinking usgp is a breeze, Louisville
Ryan kickin it in a sand pit at Kings, Cincy
Steve laying the smack down in the uphill sandpit at Harbin Park, Cincy

usgp elite women (first barrier set)

finally took a day to just watch the races. did a nice mtb ride in land between the lakes the day before and then just watched the race sunday. good times. several of my buddies where complaining about how bad their back was hurting and for once i couldn't understand what they where talking about. (something about cross racing puts a lot of torque on the lower back).

09 ky mtb series recap

first successful cross practice of the year

first successful one because the other day i guess i tried a cross dismount on road shoes and asphalt with the road bike. i was being impatient and was having some trouble with the rear der so i was hopping on and off the bike to adjust things and then ride some more to get it fixed. the last time i just cross dismounted and i was sliding to a fall on top of the bike.

Today the mounts and dismounts went much better. Went fairly well actually. I forgot how demanding and yet how much fun that bike can be. The park we went to today has a little bit of everything, except the homeade 2x12 style bariers. I was getting my but kicked pretty good by a teamate. He loved the sand and it was just like mudd bogs for me. Just straight to the bottom and all over the place like a slalom course without the poles. Then we hit this pea gravel thing that was about 30 yards long. That just zapped all the energy. To top this park off there are several "natural" style steps up the sides of some steep banks for frisbee golf. One of them has some 18 inch rock steps set into the side of the bank. that sucker is steep and 18 inches at a time for i think 15 or so steps. wow. what a day! got in 1.5hrs of some decent training. most of my races are 45 minutes or less so probably just need to pick the intensity up as the winter comes on.

Don't like your wheelset....back into a pole

Well thats not exactly what I did. After a nice rainy monson style preride up in North Vernon the night before the Dino Race, I load my bike up on the back of the rack and am excited to go see some fireworks (if they are still even having them as the rain may have canceled the local showing). Well i start to back up and i see the pole. I even say...."wooo theres a pole there"....so i cut it a little hard and go. i come to a halt. the bikes are kind of up in the air where something has lifted the rack up. OH NO. i snagged the wire that keeps the cables tight on the pole. Damn thing, it had the yellow "look at me" gaurd on it and everything. The wire ran right across my wheel.
I was pretty sure I wasn't getting this trued up. HAHA. Anyway i was on a mission to get something so i wouldn't miss out to much. I've always wanted to build my own wheel so the early christmas presents began rolling in, so what its july.I start unboxing stuff and i'm starting to get a little weirded out. Do i know what the hell i'm doing??? Nope!!! So I go to the great late Sheldon Brown Site and re-read his article on wheelbuilding. Then I start. I lay everything in front of me so I get my bearings and figure out where to start.

















Then it hits me. First things first. Lets lube up the spokes with some wheelsmith spoke prep in two different colors for drive side and non drive side spoke lengths and then go pull a liter of Fat Tire from the bootleged beer fridge. Some reason Fat Tire or any of the New Belgium Brewing Company's Adult Beverages are still not available in Ky.
The beer did its magic. Nerves went away and wheel got laced up with only a few errors that are easy to catch once you start lacing the spokes.

Voila......hardest part was getting the dish correct and the spoke tension on the drive side as close as i wanted all the way around. Oh well you are supposed to tighten a nipple and then losen them a little anyway so you don't get spoke wind up. Lets just say i did that multiple times. haha. The build broke my self loathing christmas present budget a little because of the tools but then of course i finally found some road shoes that where on sale so that threw me into my 2010 spend money on me tax return funds. But hey i've been running around on some shimano spdr shoes that i custom made some plates for to adapt to look keo pedals. The bolts have been running into the bottom of my foot for over 2 years now causing foot pain. It was time.

Enjoy the bonk!

Well I had my first Bonk of the summer a couple nights ago. Man those things are like no other. I really did want to do what the rider above is doing. Just call it a day and fall asleep on the side of the road. We decided to get some extra tempo miles in before and after one of the weeknight group rides. So we set a nice pace going out and then we get there and they tell us we are doing the hardest of the 4 painted routes. So that set in and off we go. Get back to the group starting point and i'm fresh out of Cytomax. So i fill up my bottle with gardon hose and off we go to get back to our starting point. Then it hits and i'm done. Nothing i could do. I ate a gu during the ride already. I tried to eat a second sometime but i dropped the pack on the road when getting it out. I switched to two small bottles instead of the two large bottles i normally run. I've been restricting my diet slightly. So i'm sure all had some slight effects on the body with the added milage after a work day, i got to enjoy my bonk. My riding buddy, richard, tried offer me a power block but i was done and i knew it. Nothing was bringing me back from this one. Just soft pedal all the way home and try to avoid the cramping that was coming on is all i could hope for, that and hope the sun stayed on the horizon just long enough to roll home.

what i hate about mountainbiking in ky

This evil female vixen comes in two varieties in ky. a low lying leafy 3 leaf plant like structure. (remember 3 leaves let it be). Then it also comes in a viny variety that grows up the sides of trees. the oil causes the problems in humans. onces its washed off it can not spread. Lots of folks around here still think you can spread it from the puss that comes out of the rash afterwards, but you can't. only the initial oil causes the problems.

I'm suffering my first encounter with her for the summer. She somehow snaged the crease of my elbow and i'm suffering some evil itchy rash because of her horrible oil. ITCHY, PUSSY, and Visible. Atleast on the legs it gets covered and you don't get looked at like you have some sort of disease. Then scratching at the arm makes me look like a crack addict that hasn't had their fix. I washed the legs with technu but didn't even think about the arms.

I think the only thing that may even compete with the worste thing about mtb in ky is THE TICK. This guy can cause all kinds of nastyness, the worse probably being limes disease. Nothing like being bitting and getting sick to finally not being able to complete thaughts. mmmm all kinds of fun.

Yeah i'm being a little debbie downerish but.....hey i haven't been able to ride my mtb and i've been stuck on the road with angry drivers and having to watch wheels and people not calling pot holes in pacelines and and and........i miss the woods!