Bike 30

Just returned from a 2.5 hour repair session that started as a quick shifter cable change on the Major Jake and evolved into a full drivetrain disassembly/cleaning and a Egg Beater pedal rebuild. Unfortunately, one of the Beaters did not survive the rebuild. The spindle stripped out when reinstalling the new parts. Oh well, probably a low end version and probably due for a new one. I was noticing a wierd click in one of my pedals...may have been stripped already. So I grabbed the Beaters off the MTB and threw the rebuild ones (with partial strip...but nut seems to hold) back on the MTB for now...I need to invest in new ones before a serious ride on the MTB though. So as midnight looms I am losing some sleep tonight but will awake to a crisp shifting, no-nonsense ride that is ready for some CX action this weekend...

PM Ride

It was a busy family weekend with no expectations to ride, but always a desire to... I shot the usual weekly/bi-weekly text to Dave asking about a ride. This time the plan worked! DaveD and I get about 2 rides/year with busy family and schedules getting the way. The trick was to arrange it after dark with the kids in bed.

Not knowing what to expect, Dave put a strong pace through the Park with his single speed. He is still quick as hell! We traveled north the "distance" and then came back on the East side. Highlights were seeing tons of deer; but the best was this huge buck that was with his ladies. The female deer bolted but the buck stayed put. When the trail doubled back, he was about 20 feet away just staring us down through the bushes and sporting about a 8-10 point rack. He looked pissed, so we were planning to duck behind a tree if he charged. We didn't have that story to tell, but what a sweet night to ride!

Time is flying.

I looked over at my last Tweet and realized 28 days have passed since I was sick. This is funny, because it seemed like yesterday. In fact, as I was hammering out a 10 min interval yesterday; I thought I could still feel some residual damage in my lungs from that crap. I think that might have been "lazy" entering the building!

When I was gearing up for the commute sometime around Aug 10, I remember being at home, tired, and saying to my wife, "I hope I have it in me for another year of this". Soon after, I was making deals with myself about "Make it to Pioneers CX and then you can hang up the bike until the first of the year"

Now that Pioneers is 1 week away, and I'm over 3 months in to my 120 mi/week commute; I am in the groove. I feel like I barely got started and can't wait to ride on through the winter. I even picked up a co-worker and he now rides with me Wed/Fri with plans to go through the winter. I set him up clipless and he is even going to give CX a try! Pretty cool.

Maybe head over to local "unnamed" park to dial in some cross handling this weekend (I heard we could admit to riding there now?), nothing much else planned due to family committments.

Vitamin G

110th on the East side of town is the best cure for a case of the Mondays.

Missed the kolaches but still had kraut!

did a mix of the Wilber ride with GLGA revisit (cortland to ash rd to 98th to apple to 110); a sweet side trip to Wagon Train single track and back to the house to share a post ride refreshment with JV and show off my basement finish.

Wilber ride had Cornbread, JP, Syd, Aaron, MG, JV and JXW to battle headwind to Cortland together. I had to peel off there and enjoyed the awesome northeasterly jaunt with JV.
Ran into Coach and PC headed the opposite direction on Wagon Train single track. What a great resource, I need to get down there more often.

Hope everyone got out and enjoyed it today!

11 P.M.

Just watched NE pull out a win.

Went out back and finished dialing in my new brakepads after the new game. Damn, I go through those fast (kool-stop) on commutes with the CX. BTW, reached 2000 ish since Aug 8 on the commute.

Contemplating tomorrow's activies. Been invited to a game of "paintball", will plan to try that one out. For the first 1/2 of the day, I'm still planning my ride. You see, I have a family that likes their sleep and my ideas for 6 a.m. gravel get in the way of that. I would love to meet at Meadowlark for a Wilber 80, but more realistically will be looking to go to Wagon Train for a gravel 30 with some singletrack solo.

Or just the usual 130 mile commute week and call it good.

Goodnight.

See ya later cough and chills!

OK...feeling much better (100%?) now but I did get a nasty bout of cough and chills 1.5 weeks ago. Spent thurs-sunday sick and the rest of last week recovering (on the bike--4 commutes in hard rain to boot!). This week I coughed out the last of the congestion, but was off the bike Saturday until now and was in California with the fam. Should be able to consistently train from now until Pioneers CX. Definitely had a rest week, full of pizza and pop. Everyone else seems busy racing every weekend. I couldn't wait to get on the blogs and check CX results when we got home from vaca. It will be interesting to see if I can keep up in 3 ish weeks!

Fall

Sunday CX Swanson

Final results in 1,2,3's

Left yesterday feeling that my technique was lacking and I had the fitness to advance a few places. I felt today I may have misjudged my form after all.

I had a good start and was hanging with the top 5 for the majority of a lap. I started slipping back after lap 1 and fell into a good battle with MOD (who was on a single speed I may add!). I could sense Cornbread gaining on us. MOD stuck to my wheel for a few laps and finally passed me on a long straight away. Cornbread was on our heels! I passed MOD back a while later and CB passed both of us shortly after. He came on strong! I tried to hold his wheel but it was clear that he was feeling it and I wasn't at that point. With 1 lap to go, I noticed MOD surging back on me a bit. When I came around the lap cards read zero and I asked the official what was up...he gave me the option of retiring and prorating my time at that point. Because I had been bonking a bit, it was all I needed as an excuse and I rolled off the course.

Before November, I need to increase endurance and work on some technical riding skills. Not out of reach and I look forward to the road ahead. All in all, it was an awesome weekend...

D. Farnham's photos

There was a little power-climb before the long fireroad downhill. For some reason I felt like pushing too big of gear early on...I got smart and started spinning later in the race.

Dan Farhnam captured the chaos the sand pit can throw at you. I found (later) that the deep ruts were very ridable and this was my only sand pit dismount on the day.

Perfect day for a race--Omaha Day 1

The view from the cockpit.

Took a graceful? spill on off camber turn leading up to the barriers with one foot out and back up and running, but the bars were stuck this way and I didn't take the time to fix them. At least the left shifter was bent further in, keeping it straight even though it was "set back" due to the angle of the bar. Seemed to work great actually!

I had a blast. Great seeing everyone, like a big family reunion. I felt good too, just needed to fine tune my technique and I think this could be a good cross season for me.

Thanks to Randy Crist and Velo Veloce for laying out a great course and pulling off this huge event!!

I'll be back tomorrow!

Ill be pushing it this weekend!