Rough day today. Self-motivation is really, really low. I actually feel bad about myself!

Rode with Cary and Steven for a minute this morning. We hammered up Washington park and I cut out early. The rain, the rain. It is keeping me cold. Real cold. Ice queen.

I’ve put myself in a bad mood today. The guilty “I’m not training as much as I need to be” sensation is lingering. This weather is pretty intolerable. I know I need to be putting in these epic rides. And, it feels near impossible to find the time and energy to.

I get in a funk about my shop and my racing once in a while. This being one of the “whiles”.

Sometimes it feels like I am just working against myself. Like, I’m not running the shop well, not riding well, not doing the best I can be doing.

Things are going really well to be honest. The shop is busy and I feel great whenever I touch a bicycle.

Oh, I remember.

BLOGS.

I’ve gotten a bunch of flak in the last month about or, because of my website. Again, I’ll not get into specifics but, it is all tied into the fact that my website is so personal and completely public. I mentioned that a long-lost Aunt found me because of the site. Well, I have been realising how very much, EVERYONE can access the website and read what I write. (not that I did not know before…)

It is scary. I have had relatives, friends of friends, people’s parents, stalkers etc, getting in contact with me one way or another because of the website. It is exausting. And has kept me away from writing the last couple of weeks.

There is little that I would NOT say in person that I type on the computer.

Hmm… My point is drifting off.

I was being tactful before and it still pissed a lot of people off. Not that I cannot handle controversy or angry people. I don’t know how many of you follow Ryan Trebon’s blog but, I appreciated a recent post where he says “I dont like doing what people tell me to anyways.” If you follow the post, sounds like he has had folks urging him to clean up the blog. That is my gut reaction too, I don’t like doing what people tell me too (HINT: reverse psychology works. Tell me to attack and I’ll sit in, tell me to sit in and I’ll attack.) so, I’ll usually find a great reason to do the opposite of what they want me to. Its all that problem with authority thing, right? Well, Ryan could get up on the podium, moon the crowd and they would love it. If I mooned the crown it would not go so well. The point? There is a line between total disclosure and respecting people’s privacy. Hell, respecting MY privacy. I like keeping this journal and I like writing, it is a good outlet and a great resource for keeping in touch with friends, and business relations that I don’t keep as in touch with as often as I should.

BTW, (if you read his blog) hats off to Ryan, I’m glad he did not conceed.

So, I’m not going to hold back and I don’t want the feedback to quiet down either. It is all fuel for the fire! But, I’ve got to practice a little more tact. My brutal honesty will continue to get me into trouble if I don’t.

Don’t worry, I’ll continue to reveal all the spicy aspects of my life.

Like Keely’s rain paints. hehheh.

And my sweet new Vanilla mountain bike. Sick. Full XTR. Full Ritchey. Matt Hall and I went on a ride and he was laughing about how like a year ago I would not even THINK about hopping over logs and stuff that we were just flying over last Sunday. I would stop and walk over logs all the time! Ha!

Oh! Ryan is NOT racing cross worlds! Family stuff sent him back stateside. wow. Really sucks.

This should just be the “I’m on Ryan’s jock entry” eh?

Moving on. I’m kinda freaked out about the upcoming race season. I’ve got very little road ambition. I’d like to start finishing road races for once. And in the lead group ideally. Its the knees. Oh, the knees. Anything over 2 hours just makes them hurt! But, I’ve been in the gym and doing a gradual buildup to actually putting in 4+ hour rides. I’ll see how it goes.

I’ve been in communication with a road racing team about potentially riding for or with them. Nope, not Saunier Duval. Sorry, I can’t wear yellow, it does not go with my eyes. The secret is not out yet but, I expect to have a few teammates to ride with at the bigger road races this year. Which is exciting. I figure, if my knees just can’t keep me at “breakaway” pace for 2 solid hours and I have to drop out, at least I can ride FOR someone else and put them where they need to be in a race.

Like I said, very little road racing ambition.

Now mountain biking. That is another story. For another time.

Let’s talk about custom framebuilding and bikeshops.

I’ve got a LOT of framebuilder friends. A lot. No, you really don’t even know. A LOT! And they all make great bicycles. I ran into Ira Ryan this morning after I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. We talked about how friendly-personal dynamics may be changing for him with his friends who ALSO build frames. And, I was expressing my concerns about my shop. How I get kinda jealous (not mad-jealous but, self-critical jealous, like, what do I need to do differently/what am I doing wrong?) when people I consider friends shop at other bike shops. Not just like, “buy a blinky light” shop at other shops but, “I am going to get a pair of wheels built and a new parts group for my frameset” shop at other shops.

Now understand, I will NEVER give anyone grief about spending thier money at other shops. EVER. I’m not really that stressed out about it and don’t take it too personally but, as someone who really, really pays attention to who and where I spend my money (it is a conscious, political desicion for me) I get concerned when I feel like my shop is not good enough for my friends to support.

So that is the point. Sometimes I feel like I’m running my shop wrong. Maybe it is just, “you cannot please everyone all the time”. One day track cranks are hot, the next day mountain bike shocks are hot. In case you were not aware, I have NO capital. That may be the biggest flaw. Not enough money to have all the cool stuff in stock that I would like to.

And, lots of the time I am destroyed from a few hours on the bike before work and act tired and pissy when I’m trying to run the shop.

I’ve said it before, the cycling world is intense! We deal with so many wierdos and intense personalities 24/7! It is tiring. And everyone takes everything so damn personally! Take me for example, getting all sensitive because people buy bike stuff at other shops. Y’know, if you rub a customer or friend or whatever the wrong way in the bike shop it really scars them! People will forever think you are a big jerk if you act dismissive or have a wierd mis-communication about pedals or some crap.

Sometimes you wish you worked a shit job and could be shitty to customers and spit in the food and stuff. (Don’t lie, you know you have fantasised about it.) But, here we all are. Not getting rich and still getting all in a hissy fit when someone buys a tubular from the shop across town from you.

This applies to racing too.

I was just thinking about how much I love track racing yet, I am loathe to go race because of the shit I have to put up with. It is like going back to high school. You’ve got the too-cool for you kids, the jocks, the total wierdos who cannot communicate outside of spandex, the comic-book nerd types (“that dura ace crankset is LIMITED edition NJS stamped. Do not even breathe on it! You cannot afford it.”) and the friendly but, distant folks who think you hate them when really you think they hate you.

Why the hell would I want to close early, put spandex on and hurry out to the Velodrome after an exhausting day at work just to be surrounded by people that refuse to speak to me?

Oh, cause I love it. And if I win I get $30! hehheh.

Wow, that is a lot of writing. I’m going to go get Thai food and ride my trainer in front of the second Lord of the Rings movie.

BTW, I’m going to make this year the: bikeracingissuperfunfuckyou year. If you are reading this and have ever thought about checking out the track wether racing or spectating, let me know. The more fun, kick ass people I have out there to hang out with, the funner it will be. Maybe the elitists will lighten up a little and not take themselves so seriously.

In fact, I challenge a new person to bring me a cookie every Thursday evening. If I can keep winning and then eat a bunch of cookies after every race maybe people will get it and start at least acting like they are having fun. I did my first bike race EVER in a pair of cutoff pants. (a madison with Mike Murray 5 years ago.) I had no idea what I was doing. I still don’t, its amatuer racing, the sponsors don’t REALLY care if you win every sprint night. It is all about positive energy.

Serious. When I bring spectators out the the track, they are so damn intimidated by all the racers and the intense, elite scene they don’t want to come back! They don’t have a good time. I urge you, if you are racing at all this year, say hi to people. If you’ve never seen them at the track, say hi and ask for thier name!

End rant.

Big shout out to Clyde and Luciano. Who needs a podium anyways? Crit champ 2005.

Been fighting a little cold most of this week.

The motivation is high right now! I am super pumped to be training and working on bikes. The weather in Portland is pretty bad, loads of rain and flooding. I decided to stay off the bike and take care of my body instead of sticking to the program. Take a few rainy days off the bike and then feel better when the weather passes.

Mark Matson stopped by the Veloshop today and taught me about bleeding and setting up my XTR disc brakes. What a swell kid. He works at Sellwood cycle and is also the Kona bicycles XC team race mechanic+demo bike monkey. The few times we have hung out or ridden together he has been super fun and uber nice. Well, he got my bike dialed though I had to take it up to the Gallery later and have Andrew face my disc tabs. I don’t have the tool!

My long lost aunt gave me a phone call yesterday! It has been like 8 years. Feels good to re-connect with family. She lives in Michigan and I am planning a Michigan cyclocross trip this fall, I’ll be paying her a visit.

I’m sitting in the Veloshop kinda burned out and tired from a long week. Pete is on her way over, I’m going to treat her to a fun date tonight. She does not know it yet. hehheh.

I’ve been having the usual conversations with myself about the bicycle business. I don’t have the energy to get into it but, I will soon. Count on it.

By now, we all know about Shannon’s spot in cyclingnews.com! Amazing. It is so cool that he is one of the few people to get a pro-bike spot from cross natz. Vanilla bicycles are worth it, Shannon is worth it.

Also very exciting is Erik Tonkin and Rhonda Mazza’s appointment to the USA Cyclocross World championship team. This is recycled news, I know. It is still damn exciting.

I’ve got my XC training bike together now. I’m destroying my Vanilla 29er riding it so much. My cross bikes are hanging up till next fall and my road bike is getting lots of use.

Damn, I’m running late. More later. I promise.

This time of year is a bit of a slowing down period. Kinda reset the clock and start again. I’m building on last years success (racing and veloshop) and feel so much more stable on the bike and in the shop.

The Veloshop is just getting busier. We are back to our usual workload. Loads of bikework. Quality bikework.

Still having a hard time making time to get everything done though, I did put in 15 hours of riding this week. Went to the gym once too. I may go again once I get my XC training bike together tonight. Gonna teach myself how to bleed XTR disc brakes. (thanks Chris Disteffano, I’m finally putting some more of those parts to good use.)

Bingen Fernandez taught me some excellent weight training routines and on the bike strength workouts a couple years ago. I’m feeling super motivated this spring to build up and really improve on my weaknesses and develop my strengths. Get faster, get faster. Still casually trying to look for a coach. If I could build up to do track nationals and then jump right into cross season flying it would be amazing. It is ambitious but, do able.

It gets silly writing about training, it does not feel too exciting.

I’m waiting to hear back from Ritchey about XC racing bikes this summer. I’m pretty loyal to the folks that are taking care of me and I’d like to ride a bike that is OEM spec with Ritchey components, giving them more exposure in the NW. Think full suspension. Scott or Lapierre.

I started paying myself this week. Yep, I don’t think I even make minimum wage but, I’ll be setting money aside for my rent and food.

We are expecting over 4 inches of rain this week in Portland. yay.

So awesome. Who is down for consistent Monday night, night rides? Tommy and I found the 2 foot deep mud hole in the trail. I wish we had a photo of that. Needless to say I was left entirely covered in mud. Thick sticky mud.

Doh!

At least it is not rocking the baby. heh-heh. Now, it would be really funny if that happened while rocking the baby…

Hey, Erik ended up at a Middle Earth convention in Belgium! Oh wait…

Oh man, I am in the shit talking mood. Brian pointed me toward the 60+ comment stong Paul Shooooning bashing session on Ryan Trebons blog. I’m staying away from that one. Though I do remember a few posts ago that stuff was finding its way onto my comments. I did not really understand what was going on.

If only all that creative talent could be used for the forces of good.

Well, had my first drink of the year, last year. I finished off Pete’s Vodka giblets. We danced all night and went to bed at 2am. I got up at 2 pm. Ugh. My head f’ing hurts. I slept for 12 hours.

Websites are so exciting sometimes are’nt they?

Do I have to start training tomorrow?

If you are interested in a Forest Park night ride, meet at the Veloshop at 6pm, Monday.

Looked at prices of apartament sublets in Belgium…

The weather has really taken it out of me this week. I have had NO motivation. I like this time of year, spending late hours in the shop building wheels, cleaning the shop up and what not, though it becomes really difficult to get out and ride.

Did a couple hours this morning with Brian and we froze our butts off. It was kinda pathetic. We made it back to our house after an espresso and I was still shivering.

Good luck to my posse of Veloshop racers who are heading up to Steilacom park this Sunday. I’m skipping it, both my bikes are in Rhode Island. I thought about singlespeeding it but, I’m going to use this chance to catch up on shop work. Maybe a long mountain bike ride this Sunday is in order.

Not a whole lot to report today. Makes me wonder what I will have to write about for the next few months when there is no racing going on. “did 3 hours today. did 3 hours yesterday. gonna do 3 hours tomorrow. it is raining…” Maybe I’ll use the down time to launch my critique of the capitalist undercurrent inherent in bicycle racing. Or not.

Speaking of capitalism. I get a lot of shit about my bikeshop. I get, “Eww, this place is too high-end” from the punks and “Eww, this place does not have anything nice” from the yuppies. Veloshop kinda occupies this awkward place in the bikeshop hierarchy. Just 2 seconds ago this guy came in “just a repair shop huh?” as I point out all the bikes for sale in front of him. And just before him the guy who, “don’t you guys sell any used parts?” as I point to the case of used parts in front of him. Seems like I can’t please everybody!

Had a really good chat with Ira Ryan about the dynamics of my shop and the reputation it has. The fine line of being affordable enough that people without alot of money can get bike work done and charging enough so that the shop is sustainable and you can afford the life you want to live. (my 50ft yacht) I certainly feel like we are worth a lot more than we end up charging and, it would be nice to have rent on time once in a while.

Busy, busy week. This is the first second I have had to get around to updating my journal.

Got a whopping $1500 city tax bill in the mail yesterday. Ouch! That was the “Molly git yer ass focused back on running the Veloshop and less about the bike racing” slap in the face. I have been daydreaming about a new XC racing bike for next season and well, I’ll likely have to spend it on this and last year’s back taxes!

It is Thursday now and I just finished up eating dinner at Tori’s (from North Portland bikeworks) house along with Ira Ryan, Joel Metz, Cary Miller, Michelle and Tori’s friends. I am beat! We did this epic 20 person mountain bike ride today out in Scappoose. A pre-Thanksgiving Veloshop ride with far too many fun people. I was just kinda ridiculous. We had mini-pelotons riding around the small trail network, the faster riders in front doing short loops and circling back around to chase back into the slower riders. Lots of guest appearences, Tony Kic and Jennifer, JV, MarkWelder on a rare mountain bike sighting…

Moving back a little, I’ll try to remember as much about last weekend in San Francisco as I can. Lets see. I remember Jordana Swan getting in a fight with this dude (in purple) who is forever hanging out around the messenger hangouts in downtown SF and being a fixed gear know it all. The gentleman on the right wanted to get a photo with me! That was crazy! I remember the course being a XC mountain bike course. Lots of singletrack, not much room to pass, dusty but, not quite as hot as last Saturday. Again, I started just about dead last and the course just made it so ridiculous and traffic was so bad on the first few laps that I just rode as hard as I could, passed when I could and tried to have as much fun as I could. There was this possee of dudes in orange jumpsuits smoking weed and drinking in this one section of the course and they were laying money down kinda sticking out of beer cans. After the first lap I realised what they were doing and was raking in at least a few bucks a lap and pumping the crowd up by crashing out other riders to bend down and snatch up beer cans and money! I made 30+ dollars!

I knew I was not in the top 20 yet had a killer race. I bridged up to a group I had been chasing for a few laps and the just attacked them hard, dropping most of them and leading out the final few laps, finally sticking it to the one last rider hanging with me and sprinting in for 27th. I won a little cash for the effort and coupled with the beer money I made over $50.

The trip was a blast though lots of work and driving. Pete was bored alot of the time. I wished there was something I could do about it but, I was there to race, not to hang out. She knew the deal when we went down though I could tell she was frustrated sometimes. Maybe it makes sense NOT to take your date with you on business trips. It seemed like a brilliant idea in my head but, it is easier for me to focus and prepare for racing when I do not have to pay attention to someone else’s needs.

Oh, yeah. I got to be present for some pro-dudeing. Calling women chicks and someone else’s spandex gay. Golf is boring and so are some peoples personalities. That is all I want to say about that. I could get into it but, eh, I am over it at this point.

Let’s get up to date. The Veloshop is NUTS! Still busy. Jam packed with wheelbuilding and track projects. Road and mountain bike season prep. I’m researching mountin bike lines and models to look into buying for a few of my XC racing teammates. I got to ride a full-suspension bike today for the first time ever and it was really fun. I don’t know for sure if that is the way to go but, I am certainly leaning towards it.

Barry gave Todd the win on Sunday. No joke.

Oh, the final Cross Crusades points are in and Kevin Hulick (S&M) walked away with the $1000 elite prize. My Veloshop rider Steven Hunter winning the Oregon state “B” championships and the overall title too. Caroline got 3rd in the women’s B overall too, I think. This season has been a big learning experience for everyone. I’m impressed with my team. Really impressed. There are too many people to list and too many thanks to give.

I have mixed feelings about my season so far. I feel pretty confident that if I stayed in town I would have had a good chance of winning the Crusades overall and some cash. Instead, I’m getting thrashed by really talented pros and spending loads of money I don’t really have. My goal of snagging UCI points never really materialised and maybe next year I should plan on staying in town and riding for a win and travelling less? Probably not, I’d rather keep progressing. I’ll see how this spring and summer go with the mountain and road racing.

I’m rambling at this point. Going to check the cyclingnews and see if they cleared Heras yet.

Good night.

This past weekend saw my ladyfriend (Pete) and I flying down to the San Francisco bay area for the final 2 races of the USGP of cyclocross!

It is Monday around noon and we are sitting in the Oakland Airport waiting for our flight home. It is funny jet setting around like this. Answering sponsorship phone calls in the airport bathroom, drinking mediocre espresso, running around with a timeline, gotta make the flight!

I dropped my bikes off at Wrench Science in Emeryville after waking up at Dan and Sid’s house in Oakland. (HUGE thanks to Dennis at Wrench Science for opening the doors at the ass crack of dawn. I really, really appreciate the favor!) That has been a real fiscal and logistical hurdle, packing and shipping the bikes. Stressing out about them getting there on time and getting there in one piece. It is expensive! So, I am just sending them right over to Providence, RI seeing that I have 4 races left and they are all in New England.

We flew out of Portland really early last Friday morning and got to Oakland at like 9 am. After finding some espresso, picking up the bikes at Velo Sport in Berkeley and, finding snacks I decided to go down to Santa Cruz and spend the night there, the race on Saturday was in Watsonville which is like 20 minutes SE of Santa Cruz. It just made sense. I lived in Santa Cruz in 1995 for about a year before moving up to San Francisco. I used to work at the Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk. The weather was amazing. It was atypically warm, just about 80 degrees all weekend! The drive from SF the SC was beautiful. The ocean on the west the entire way down, Pete has not ever been to SC or much of the Bay Area and I consider it home so it was fun to point out all of the houses I have done it in.

Santa Cruz was nostalgic. Not in an “I miss it” way but, “I’m glad I don’t live here anymore” way. Dude. Yeah, dude is a fair way to describe SC. Dude.

We made our way to the boardwalk, walked around and I pointed out all the spots I have worked at. Then we played a mean game of airhockey. The entire time I lived in SC I never went mini-golfing so, we did. It kinda ruled. (NOT that golfing rules, I’ll get around to that in a second. But yes, mini golfing is fun.) Pete spanked me at airhockey, I spanked her at pinball and she took me to school on the putting green. I had a really good time. It took my mind off the racing and the shop, I felt relaxed for the first time in a long, long time. (maybe there is something to this golfing thing…)

We got some dinner at the Saturn Cafe and then dropped the bikes off at a sketchy motel in the flats. We decided to try and sneak into the new Harry Potter movie on opening night. dude. The movie was sold out and there was no hope of seeing it so, we just wandered around Pacific ave. and then back to the hotel where I watched parts of the Matrix and some professional boxing before dozing off. Ok, I confess, I like to watch the boxing when I travel. The match was really interesting. It was NOT this heavyweight slug fest or anything but a match with a really professional and consistent boxer (with an undefeated record) and a kinda hectic up and coming challenger. The challenger was all over the place, wasting energy and constantly adjusting up his shorts and tripping and fumbling over himself. It was almost embarrasing to watch. And I thought about how he must have trained and trained for this bout, that boxing and training was his life and you could just see himself getting mad at himself. Like shaking his head just saying “shit man, I am screwing up SO bad.” And, the other boxer was just this solid consistent force in the ring. Really professional, really clean, not screwing up at all or giving anything away. Not wasting any energy or time. It made me think about my cornering. (more on that later).

We headed out the the Watsonville race and the weather was HOT! It was like 70 degrees in the morning and by the time we got to the venue it was baking! Watsonville is a little more inland than SC and is dry and hot. Once I got there and signed in I went to say hi to Christina at Crank Brothers, Jesse, Patrick and Ming at Ritchey and Shiela of Shiela Moon design. Those folks have all given me a ton of support this year and I wished I had tons of goodies to shower them with. The racing was underway and I was just trying to stay hydrated and out of the sweltering sun. I took off to preride the course and it was a pretty short, dusty, mountain bikey, rutted, gravely, fast course design with two big run ups. It was a lot like Steilacom park in Tacoma. (for those of you who are familiar with it.) I always practice riding everything I can so, I found that you could ride the long run up with out too much trouble. And then I followed another rider around and found a good line to ride the smaller run up. But, I’ll admit, I felt like an asshole all over the course. I felt like I could not ride as fast as I would like to in the hard, dusty conditions. I was just not riding good lines and felt like I’d make up most of my time on the road sections. Chris Horner was there in his UCI cross debut, I made a mental note to NOT follow his wheel. We both got crappy positions at the start and I ended up getting stuck behind him in the chaos of the first lap. Of course, he stuffs it on the first off-camber section we hit but, I got around him ok. I did get to ride over someones bike, that was fun. I cannot stress how hot it was. My throat was burning and I had taped a water bottle to my spare bike in the pit where Partick from Ritchey was working it for me and Jesse. I was having bike trouble and when I had done a few laps and saw 7 to go I knew I wanted that water sooner than later. Of course, first thing I do after swapping bikes is hop the barriers and bounce the bottle out of my skinsuit pocket. HA! I wanted to drop out so badly, I felt crappy and the heat was taking its toll. I could not really tell if I was in or out of the top 20 but I knew I just had to finish. The race seemed so, so long. To the point: Barry ends up catching me in literally the final few hundred meters. I got lapped. I was so pissed. Really mad at myself, bummed that I would not get any points, bummed that I was not riding faster. (note: I never actually checked the results, I think I was 17th or 18th. apparently Barry was putting in killer lap times, like 6 minutes or something. It was a full minute or two before the 2nd placed rider came rolling in. Also, Barry finished the race in 1:06. Typically cross races are run so the winner finishes in just under and hour and the last riders finish in just over an hour. They miscalculated and we ended up doing a lap or 2 too many.)

I left mad at myself and looking forward to the race in SF on Sunday. I just wanted to get it over with and go home…

Bridgette and Rhonda had AWESOME races. Eric had a good race too, Shannon dropped out. Bridgett, Dani, Ian, Pete and I went out to Thai food in SC and then drove back to Oakland to sleep at my friend Dan P’s house. Dan is the friend who hung out with Tommy and I at the Sea Otter Classic this year. Dan is also good friends with my Rhode Island pit crew Dan Action.

Um, I’m going to pause this update and resume in a sec, you’ll get to hear all about last Sunday.

Spent the day getting parking tickets, packing my bikes up and taking them to Fed Ex to ship down to Oakland for the USGP of cyclocross finals. Keely and I juggled the shop duties and eventually drove out to the Airport Holiday Inn for a Campagnolo tech seminar.

A couple of hours later we are full of more Campy than you can handle. Thats right, Veloshop is privy to techy info years before the rest of you mortals. I would have snapped photos but the Campagnolo body guards would have taken me out.

How to sum it up: Electronic shifting. “to hub or not to hub”. 4 new bottom bracket designs. Campagnolo spec clipboards and labcoats.

No joke.

It was the end of a long day, a long weekend really, that has not seemed to end. I’ve gotten barely 5 hours of sleep a night the last few days. I’m still up. Updating this damn journal so I can get heckled by anonymous and anonymous.

Sarcasm does not work on the internet huh?

I’m still Vegan.

You people are crazy! Get off the internet!

Wait, not yet, you have to keep reading this entry!

I want to go back to the race on Sunday really quick. I have a lot of thanks to shout out:

Thanks to Patrick W and the JV for rescuing John Dorfer in the forest. Thanks to Mike H for getting a Veloshop team van. Thanks to Caroline, Beth, Michelle, Bridgette, Erin, Nikki and Fiona G for getting muddy all the time. Thanks to Ira for the support. Thanks to the 50 people on the dyke who thought I was pumping up the crowd. (really I just wanted my spare bike) Thanks to Tony Pereira for the photos and race encouragement. (even though Portland does not need anymore bikeshops or small framebuilders, you are a welcome addition) Thanks to Lisa Graham for killer lap counting and support. Thanks to the Bike Gallery kids for the new helmet. Really, you did not HAVE to do me the favor. Thanks Tom McD for the photos and link.

Maybe I missed some people…

Just found this on the net. More Vanilla bike love from my race in Wissahickon. Chris was really nice to talk to.

Well, I’ve got 6 races left. 4 UCI, the National championships and then the “elite cup” the next day. Then I am right back to Portland to promote our season finale at Blue Lake park. (race website SOON to be updated, no more info yet)

I’m going to just ship the bikes right from SF to Providence RI. No point in spending another $100 just to have the bikes in Portland for a couple of weeks before nats.

I said nats. Ha!

My season is hardly over. If more opportunities present themselves, I’ll be jumping at them.

Another week ticks off. Another cross race finished.

Middle of this week one of my Veloshop riders John Dorfer took a spill in the park and was out for a couple minutes. Ended up in the hospital for a couple days with a broken back! Quick action by JV and Patrick of Veloshop got John hauled out of Forest Park on a stretcher strapped to an ATV! I just read an email from him, he is off the bike till February, bed rest for the next couple weeks, 2 fractured vertabrae, stiches and gnarly road rash on the face.

Ouch.

Speaking of ouch. Did anyone else suffer like I did today at the Cyclocross Crusades Barton park race (aka: the gravel pit.)? I felt horrible! I tried to take the hole shot and just paid for it. It was kinda unusual, I can always make that huge effort and recover quickly from it and then motor it for the rest of the race but, I just died trying to stick with Carl Decker and Shannon Skerritt. Like 15 people cruised past me as I was wheezing and huffing in the first lap…

Cary Miller was riding so strong and blasted past me and I sucked his wheel for a lap, then he flatted and I bridged up to Mikkel Bossen and we dropped Timmy Evans (I think) and then Mikkel flatted!

I really felt bad. I had no gas and was not recovering at all. I held it out for 4th place behind Kevin Hulick and Shannon and Carl. Evan Plews was cruising up on me in the last few laps and if it had been a longer race I think he would have eventually got me.

In other exciting news: Steven Hunter and Mark Blackwelder took 1st and 2nd in the B race!

Hey, I’m going to end this post real quick. I left it hanging when stuff got crazy at the shop. It is way late now and I am just getting back from attending a Campagnolo seminar.