Lots to do.

Check out the Visit Bend website: HERE.

Wednesday night – Trebon vs. Craig
Thursday night – Marcel Russenberger, Bart Bowen and Molly Cameron at Jackson’s corner @ 7pm.

This is assuming you are doing an easy spin with some openers like your coach told you to in the morning before putting the compression socks on and taking in the Bend scene.

And, if you know me. We will be rocking at my vacation crib over the weekend! Lots of rock stars in the house for our stay, it is going to be media-central and, as we all know the “toppers” don’t party as hard as the pack-fill like myself. You know it will be a legit throwdown.

A raging party if I win, a somber pout session if I lose.

LGDB says: this is the picture of the year.

I don’t agree but, ADORE the front brake cable routing!!

I think the latest catch phrase is:

GET FAMILIAR!

A bunch of us cx racers are getting together tomorrow morning for an easy hour or so spin.

Mo Bruno Roy, Barb Howe and Ben Popper are just a few of my super star cx racer pals who are in town for the USGP finals and CX nationals in Bend this weekend.

Come join us for coffee and snacks, road or cx tyres OK. We will hit up a little climb and spin back into town.

WHERE?

Sweetpea bakery
1205 SE Stark
Portland, Oregon
97214

A nice central location for all the out of towners staying at various hotels and houses. Good coffee and snacks.

WHEN?

Ordering coffee at 10am rolling out before 11am. Easy spin.

Feel free to invite others, see you there!

My pals shop in Kansas City is closing.

I am a huge pinball fan though, not very good at it.

I like design but, again. Not so good at it.

Major Lazer “Keep it Going Louder” from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

This pic is too amazing NOT to include.

My pal Dean Tracy is a world class track racer and is living his dream racing 6 – days in Europe.

And finally, I co-hosted a Portland Concert Co-op weekly podcast. Check it out!

Ok, I heart me some Matt Pacocha but, I completely disagree with this statement:

“We’ve told you — and if you’ve tried it, you know — that Shimano’s top-of-the line $380 M310 mountain bike shoe isn’t a good option for cyclocross. It’s too stiff and its minimalist sole is just too slippery if you miss your pedal on the first attempt.”

I was skimming the interwebs and noticed that statement buried in a shoe review. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s talk about this for a second. And learn a thing or two about objective journalism!

The Shimano M310 is hands down the single best cyclocross shoe on the market! My opinion but, backed up by race win after race win. How many US cross races, National Championships, World Cups, World Championships and countless Euro CX races have been won on the M300 series shoe?

Oh, who is this? All of the leaders at the Koksijde World Cup? All in Shimano M310 shoes. I guarantee you that Zdnek Stybar was not bummed about having a stiff carbon sole when he took the bunch sprint off the front of the group and ahead of Sven Nys.

It is one the best fitting shoes (ok that is a personal decision), plus it is custom-fit heat moldable, extremely durable (I’ve got a pair that has seen 3 seasons in the US + Europe), has really long lasting velcro straps and replaceable buckles. The PRO features are all in there. A shoe you will have for life! And worth every penny.

I am guilty myself of wishing at one time for a more aggressive sole, more rubber for “traction” but, when racing in Europe I noted that all of the “toppers” had not modified their M310 shoes and were ripping through muddy and sandy run sections and remounting with no trouble whatsoever. Made me realize it is all in your technique (or lack of) and partially your pedal choice.

Which may be a hard pill to swallow for some. If your re-clipping technique is poor, a mediocre shoe will only reinforce that mediocre technique! Allowing you the comfort of sloppily getting back into your pedals.

When you put some work into your technique, it will improve. (I had to, it was a lot of work!)

And then you can stop blaming your shoes for your sketchy remounts.

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Check it out, worth all ten minutes of yr time.

Mullet with headlights. wait for it.

Thanks for all the kind sentiments this last week. I’m completely blown away. I’m no hero. Seriously and deeply, I’m feeling the love and hell, trying my hardest to stay motivated to rip some legs off at the USGP finals here in Portland and Nationals in Bend.

I won’t lie, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night all week. Tossing and turning… it is kind of ridiculous to be honest. Mentally I’m over it but emotionally? Clearly not.

Replaying the race over and over again in my head… (I could have attacked on the right, he should have gotten outta my way on the runup, I should not have waited up) coulda woulda shoulda

I’m not one for regret.

Sure, I could have attacked last Sunday when Sean bobbled and possibly gone on to win but, would forever have felt like a tool for attacking when my only rival in the race hit the deck in a silly tangle. There is no class in that. It was not a World Cup, I’m not a juiced up Euro, and I don’t need to take advantage of my only competitor’s mishap to win. It is the local Cross Crusade, and as awesome as winning the series would have been, it would not have been worth it to win like that.

I hope that makes sense, because I don’t regret it.

We took it right down to the line, 60 fucking minutes of pedaling our eyes out and we could not drop one another. But there has to be a winner and there has to be a loser. That is how racing works.

For better or worse Babs crossed the line first and from what I hear the finish was pretty epic to behold!

THAT is awesome: congrats to Sean Babcock on a solid Cross Crusades campaign. The kid is talented and we will see more to come in the next few years.

Oh man! I had the legs, I had the momentum!

And it ended face down in the mud.

I am heartbroken. Completely shattered that it ended like that. I hit the deck hard. (oh what I would not give to have the Cross Crusade races finish with a 200meter road section, like every other cyclocross race in the world!)

I went through a world of emotions last night and ended up bawling in the car after eating dinner with Pete at the Blossoming Lotus. I was feeling pretty shafted.

I stole this photo from PDXCross as it says it all. Now go to their website and buy some pictures.

Bumping is racing, I believe that.

Damn, I started off well but, I think this succession of bummer weeks and real life BS caught up with me a few laps in.

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Velonews report here.

I think in retaliation for Dr. Thompson getting convicted and sentenced for his brutal crime, the drivers and cops of the world felt the need to retaliate on me! Geez, it is barely dusk and I literally had a guy chase me down the street yelling about not having lights on my bike! Every 3rd car made a point to honk or yell or veer at me before I made it home!

I’m feeling the hate in the world tonight. Damn.

More amazing from Brian Vernor:

I got to race with Barry this weekend. Saturday was fun and I was riding pretty well. Sunday I was empty and after a couple silly (and hard) crashes, played damage control. I was going backwards all race.

Good to know that you can crash the hell out of a Shimano Electronic bike and it does not bother it…

I can thank Adam Myerson for tipping me off to this video but, had I found it on my own, I would say: this guy exhibits my kind of professionalism. I get accused of getting all worked up and flying off the handle, and I think I must come across like Harlan sometimes. You gotta have standards.

“its the amateurs that make it so tough for the professionals” so true, so true. Adam says: substitue “writer” for “cyclist” in this rant. Cyclist, mechanic… what ever. Professionalism is damn important, even if you use dirty words.

I was a huge fan of the Prisoner series from the 60′s. Now this. Looks amazing.

And the original, for shits and giggles.

And well, my pit crew (Jacob) sent me this. Enjoy the audio.

Ok, we need to teach Heidi a little bit about subtle product placement but, we forgive her. This video is pretty sweet. Guest appearances by a bunch of my pals (Jess, Zan!) and a fun glimpse of the awesome scene we have here in the NW.

My buddy Dean Tracy is shredding the 6day scene in Europe. Living the dream of getting creamed by Euros day in and day out. I like yr style. Follow the exploits here.

And I appreciate this, because Hinault looks like he wants to jump off his bike and tackle that woman right then and there.

Oh, and in case you were wondering… my carbon frames were “hand hammered”, I get the full custom Belgie treatment. Wallonians need extra hammering.

Amazing photos from PDX Cross here.

See you in the rain this weekend in Astoria for Cross Crusade #5 and #6

Come say hi, I’m bringing out food and coffee and hanging out all day so, fell free to stop in and shoot the shit! I’ll probably bring out the last few remaining FMB and Dugast tubulars I have in the shop. If you want to take a look at the sweetest tyres available, stop by our Shimano tent and say hello!

Holy crap! I am so damn pumped!

I knew the Hillsboro course suited me a little better than the weekend before so, I was pretty confidant going into the race yesterday. Well, I was confidant that I could do a decent ride but, after the last couple of rough weeks I’ve had, I was not expecting to put in a stellar performance.

Stoked. Stoked. Stoked. I’m not taking these wins for granted, they were both hard fought. I joked that I should just retire now. Go out on a high note. I certainly have enough other things going on in my life that I could toss bike racing to the side and still have plenty of shit to keep me busybusybusy.

Though, in all my stoked-ness, I should point out a few things about the race yesterday:

Tonkin flew to Louisville Saturday morning, raced the USGP #3, won “most agressive” and then flew back Saturday night to race Sunday morning here. (fueling the legend)
Ian Brown apparently put in a killer ride on the East coast earning what very well may be his first ever UCI point. Good job Ian! He had RCB’s Davy Yeater in tow (17th place) out there too.
Speedvagen’s Shannon Skerrit and Kevin Hulick were also out in Louisville at the USGP putting in some hard rides.
Joshua Berry threw down some top 20 races in Louisville this weekend too.

So, what I am pointing out is: 6 of Oregon’s top cyclocross riders were out of town. I’m not calling it a hollow win but, it was certainly a little bit smoother with out half a dozen of those fast guys breathing down my neck.

Velonews article here.

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That is it for now, I should go as the extremely wet weather on Monday morning has backed up the storm drains into my bike shop, flooding it yet again!

Is this the beginning of BS week round three?