First Day on Snow

I bitched the whole drive to wild mountain. i had zero desire to go skiing, but it was my first day back for the season with Blizzard. we rolled into the parking lot under gray skies and a drizzle. awesome, go figure that my spyder instructor jacket is not water proof.

got out for a run before the kids arrived and the snow was good! in fact it got better as the day went on. thankfully though the sun never came out. had it, we would have been s.o.l. by noon.  in the end i got to teach some lessons and tag a long with our to black lesson. got some interesting perspectives on high performance skiing from groven.

looking forward to trollhaugen next weekend.

bottle cross

yesterday i took part in hurls bottle cross at the hobo camp. the course was short. fast. and brutal. the roll out was fast. aaron peterson killed it on the pink 1x1 blasting out of the gate like a time trialist. geno had a sweet sprint start and it was off down the long straight. over the barricades and up the stairs. the run up was the most brutal thing i ran since suicide hill at my high school alumni cross country (foot race!). but this time i had my bike, and some steep sketchy stairs to navigate. crawled to the top and my legs refused to work once back on the bike.

painfully pedaled down a fast gravel road into the run down, or as geno rode it the kinda just slide your bike all over the fucking place and hope you dont die down hill. back on the bike. down the straight and a quick right into the single track, then back onto the start. this made for some interesting racing as i lapped people i had to dodge them were they went into the single track and i continued down to the stairs.

the his and hers Hwoods took their respective wins. were awarded their trophies and the party began.
in the end i dont even know how i finished. all i know was that the racing was super competitive. the course was brutal. the beer was cold. and the entry was one bottled beverage! and the conversation with like minded peoples was amazing.

the Bicycle Jerk go his photos up. check em out.

academic freedom

my loose ends have been tied up. should have that fancy piece of paper in a few weeks. interview tomorrow. but for now getting my party on...

chilly chilli cross cross

had a blat at the chilly chilli ride yesterday with death rider y company. trails where superb. the chilli was amazing. and the company was fantastic. best saturday on the bike ive had in a while, and there have been a lot of good saturdays lately...

today i went to the cattail cx in rogers. race got a late start and they shortened our allreay short race. rode to a 3rd place finish in cat 4. whish i would have had that final lap. i think i could have caught them

drew was like a bat out of hell from the gate in the cat 3 race. drew soundly led the race for 2/3's of it but was sadly passed by brandon whom took 1st. in the end though we still covered our entry fees with winnings so it was good. hopefully ill be able to get some of drews photos to show ya the good times

the cracknfail is going 2x9. 50*42 double with dura ace goodness thanks to drew.

why do i do it

going into any chance to be competitive on my bike im jittery with excitment.

then the race comes. and i feel nervous.

then the race starts. and it sucks, i instantly hate every thing im doing at that specific moment.

then the race ends...and holy fuck that was awesome feeling rolls around. and i think about how awesome every thing was about the race. all the way up to the next race

and into the start of the next race...when everything sucks again.