I think my life is finally slow enough, for the first time in about 6 weeks, that I might be able to do a real blog entry. It’s really too bad; so many notable things have happened since the start of August that would have merited entire entries unto themselves. I’m going to try to boil it all down to one post to get caught up.

My life since August 1:

- Lost the USA Crits leader’s jersey in Charlotte. Lots of bad luck and bad choices in the last lap.

- Got 6th at Haynes Park the next day, with a nice field sprint. Wish I could have done the same the day before.

- Started a full week off the bike, sacrificing good form at Crit Nats for good form in September at San Francisco, DC, ‘Cross Vegas, USA Crit Finals, and the start of the ‘cross season.

- Got more work done on the dinosaur sleeve in Athens while I was on my week off.

- Got home and started the long, slow process of moving in with Janice in Portland.

- Won the Salem Witches Cup:

No one wanted to hold my hand on the podium. People were riding like jitbags all night, and I finally lost my patience with all the local cat. 2 masters who apparently don’t ever have to account for their shitty riding. I decided to start showing them, if they were going to chop people in turns all night and not respect each other, what it actually looks like when you’re really good at it. All you folks with kids and jobs should think twice before divebombing someone in a local criterium that doesn’t mean shit for anything other than your own ego. And if you’re an up and coming U23 rider on a team that normally gets respect, you should reconsider shouting “faggot” to people in public. You don’t know who you might be talking to, who might hear you, or who might be able to keep you from getting on a team in the future.

Sincere apologies to Mark McCormack for my move before the last corner, though. Shit happens in the sprint, but I definitely ended up going through a hole that I really hadn’t intended to be plowing through.

- That Saturday and Sunday was Crit Nats and the warm up race. Considering I had only been on my bike for 7 days or so, I was happy to get 10th and 13th each day. Tom Soladay was in there with a shout until 1/2 lap to go, and I just wish I had been able to follow his wheel when the battle was hot. Once chop, one lost wheel, 20 lost places, and you get 13th instead of 3rd.

- The following Thursday I continued my big build up and rode 40 miles from Northampton to Pittsfield before the Legacy Banks Criterium. It was a really great race, and I was lucky to squeeze out a field sprint for 2nd place. Will Duggan did an impressive solo ride to take the win.

Is there anyone who doesn’t miss Dick Ring? Lord love a duck. Henry Jurenka posted some great race videos on his site, including the final interviews here.

- On Saturday, more drama. I won the GS Mengoni GP in Central Park for the 2nd time in my career, except I didn’t cross the line first. You can read the gossip on NY Velocity if you like. Better to start from the bottom of the comments and read up.

- That Sunday was Chris Thater, and another USA Crit. This is a tough race for me, with a really hard hill. The only reason I even get to the finish of this race is that it’s coupled with a difficult, technical descent, and the race itself allows for a lot of clever riding. Falcon finished in front of me, but 17th (with a 10 or so rider break) was probably the best result I could pull off there. I can’t do much about how fast Yosvany is going.

- Wednesday through Saturday was spent supporting Janice through her sister’s wedding in Princeton, New Jersey. 4 days at her parents house, and Janice was the maid of honor - do I really need to explain this one? Janice deserves all the support I can give her, though, and dropped me off about 80 miles from our destination both on the way down and the way back, so I could get in as much training as I could considering the 5-hour drives. Love. That. Woman.

- Sunday and Monday saw the final big loads of gear go up from Boston to Portland, and the official shift of my home base. I don’t want to say that I’m living in Portland, but I don’t need to stop in Boston anymore now other than to pick up mail and pay bills, or sleep closer to the airport.

- Picked up my 3 new SWEET Van Dessel Gin and Trombone ‘cross bikes. God damn, Edwin Bull at Van Dessel is good to me. Thanks to International Bike for building them all up for me, too. I can not wait to race these things.

- Last weekend was finally the end of my big build up for the month, and the 8th annual Cycle-Smart Cyclo-Cross camp. It was a huge success, with 25 riders in attendance over the weekend. We couldn’t have asked for more, but Monday couldn’t have come a minute sooner. Thanks to our friend Pat for bringing the beer.

- Today I’m in San Francisco. Tonight is the next round of the USA Crits, the SF Twilight Criterium. This is the start of a big block of racing for me, and one that I’ve trained really hard for. Take a look at my schedule link in the sidebar for what’s coming up. I have a few days at home after this, and then it’s 6 races in 10 days, with a lot of travel to pull it all off. At the end of it, I hope to have won the first UCI race in PA, the USA Crit Series, and the Double Down competition in Vegas. I really hope to make the front group at ‘Cross Vegas. Seriously, with all the big goals I have in front of me, that’s the one I think about the most. I just want to make that front group, and be part of the race. Oh, and I totally have a song for that:

Chip On My Shoulder - Slapshot

Walking around and all I see
Druggies and alkies all around me
Blowing their smoke in my face
Talking to me from outer space
Go to the square and they ask me
To buy for them or smoke some weed
Tell them to fuck off - go away
They say I’ve got a problem
Yeah, I got a chip on my shoulder

Chip on my shoulder
Chip on my shoulder

Hanging around of a Friday night
Shithead always getting into fights
I’m fed up with all of you
But there’s nothing I can do
Go to the square and they ask me
To buy for them or smoke some weed
Tell them to fuck off - go away
They say I’ve got a problem
Yeah, I got a chip on my shoulder

Knock it off!

So there you go. All caught up, and now maybe I’ll be able to stay on top of the updates a little better.

I love San Francisco. I hope it loves me back tonight.