I started intentionally slow and tried to let the race happen on its own before I decided how ambitious I wanted to be. By then Gavin Mannion had 45 seconds on the group of 4 I was in, and since I was feeling ok, I decided perhaps I should start chasing. I turned on the gas through a technical, muddy, uphill section of the course, got myself free of the group, and put in 3 laps at full gas. I got the gap down to 20 seconds by one to go, but that was as close as I could get. I rode tempo for the last lap for a nice second place, but slightly annoyed with myself for not taking Gavin a little more seriously and going after him sooner. That kid is already something special, and I can’t wait to see how far his career goes.

After that I started training again for nationals in earnest, and I have to confess, I was not feeling it for a few days. My power is down, my energy levels are still low, we’re going through a big transition period at Cycle-Smart, and I just wasn’t ready for the world at all. Hence the melodramatic blog entry and a few days of only listening to Rocky Votolato singing about love, death, and Makers Mark.

JD Bilodeau reminded me today, though, that “the old ways are the best ways,” and that I should basically get my act together. This was the link he sent:

1979. It’s hard to believe how amazing it must have been to see Bad Brains in 1979. This isn’t even them at full speed, either. When they finally recorded this song, it was about 25% faster than this. Unreal.

I managed to get in 4 hours on the bike Tuesday and Wednesday, and felt better as the workouts went on. Tuesday night Janice and I had a little too much to drink at the Trappist beer tasting at Novare Res, and I’m sure that put a small dent in my recovery. But man, was it worth it. 2 oz pours of every Trappist beer, including all 3 Westvleterens from the bar owner’s personal stash. It was about 50 oz of beer, all at 6-13% ABV. I will confess to doing a little dumping during the tasting; it was just too much for me to put it it all down. I drank every drop of the Westvleterens, though.

I opted to rest Thursday, get my bikes prepped, and try to get my head in gear for the USGP events on Saturday and Sunday in NJ. I so did not want to go, and I was really worried that perhaps my long road season of chasing around the USA Crit Series title, capped off with the trip to Europe, was putting the nail in my coffin.

I tried to stay positive, and just put one foot in front of the other - literally. I’m sure you’ve all seen the photos and read the reports by now. Saturday I didn’t know what to expect from myself, so I just rode steady and consistent, and got a pretty mediocre result. I figured I was at my worst, and if this was me at my worst, it wasn’t terrible. Nothing to slit my wrists over, or beat my chest about.

Sunday I was even less motivated because so little seems to be at stake with the form I have, but sometimes that can be a good thing. Once the gun went off, I tried to get serious, and got a great start. All the UCI points I’ve missed out on this year has me starting in the 4th row, but I was in the top 10 going through the first turn. A few crashes and mistakes found me eventually 10 places back from there, but that was still 10 places further up than the day previous. When I looked around at one point and saw I was racing with Matt White, Bjorn Selandar, and my friend Chris Jones, I realized I was on a much better day. I was in the hunt for top 15 until about the last lap, when 2 quick crashes saw me lose the group for good. Riding the tape was always the hot line, and I like to stay on my bike if I can, but the trade off is getting your hoods caught in the course tape or a stake and going ass over tea kettle. I did that way, way too often. 22nd place was encouraging, though.

At least I was close enough to the front to finally get some pics again:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=/photos/2008/nov08/mercercup2_08/mercercup2_084/mjc2008-11-16_14-59-38

http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=/photos/2008/nov08/mercercup2_08/mercercup2_084/mjc2008-11-16_15-04-41

I had to include this one. Nick Keough. So emo he makes me want to cry, too:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=/photos/2008/nov08/mercercup2_08/mercercup2_084/mjc2008-11-16_16-16-40

Kids these days, I swear. So cute.

Today I felt amazing good. I’m sore, but energized. I had all but given up on any good form for the rest of the year, but now I realize the energy is still there. It’s too late to do a huge build up and have a peak for nationals like I hoped, and the next road season is already on the horizon. I really do need a break this winter. But I can see that with full recovery from the weekend, one big workout mid week, and then fresh legs for the following weekend, I’ve got some good performances left in me. Long Island this weekend, then Sterling, Palmer, Warwick, and Nationals. And then beer.

One More Work Song Blues - Rocky Votolato

here it comes again
i’m watching myself through everybody else’s eyes
same old shit again
if this is my heart, why’s it still beating?
’cause i’m dead inside
the root of all evil is grounding me
if i were really smart, i’d just get in my car and drive
’til i was dry
these decisions i make, right or wrong, taking tolls
i can’t explain to anyone
spent how many years alive, you’d think by now 
i’d learn how to make up my mind. 

Rocky’s songs are like a switchblade with a pearl and velvet handle, and that’s how things feel today.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2008/nov08/rockyhill08

It’s cool if you want to cover Lance, but don’t cover those races like they matter beyond being local events. They don’t. Lance showing up at your local time trial because he’s local still means it’s a local time trial. It belongs in the news section because it’s about Lance, not in the Major Races section.

/rant

http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=news/2008/nov08/nov05crossnews

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZmLBrL36NObNyMR0ghXN7vB5hYwD9495UO00

Who knew that the flip side of people coming out to support Obama was going to be religious and cultural conservatism in the African American community setting back equal rights for gays and lesbians in California?

I have never understood how one oppressed group could turn it’s back on another.

I promised myself I wouldn’t get up there. It only took 1/2 a beer to talk me into it.

“For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

Hell yes!

As energized as I am, I am still in recuperation mode. This ‘cross season I have done this to myself twice. I’ve taken all my hard training, and all my good form, and I’ve burned it up with hard travel and ambitious racing. It’s been good; there are no regrets there. But it’s been hard to show up tired to races I have the form to be at the front of, struggling to hold wheels and sprint out of turns. Or showed up with really good legs to a race that was beyond my ability level, only to just squeak by on the lead lap, or for the last paying prize money spot.

The first time I did it was in the period of DC/Nittany/Vegas/Vegas/VT/VT. I took the first week of August off, and then crushed it in training for 3 weeks leading into that period. It worked; I was in the hunt for the podium until the last lap in DC, and made the podium in Vegas for the crit and the overall. But I was also very frustrated with flatting and crashing at Nittany and missing out on points, crashing in the last lap at DC, and showing up way, way tired for the first two Verge races in Vermont, where I managed to even crash warming up.

I recovered after that, and was on the way back up for Gloucester. Second at Falmouth and two top 10’s at Gloucester said I was on track. But instead of continuing to get some results at home, I packed it all up and went to Belgium. I was probably peaking for this entire past month, but all that good form got spent on travel, jet lag, full-day meetings, the stress of racing way, way above my head, and all in the weeks leading up to my own two-day race weekend in Northampton. After that whole racing/meeting trip in Europe, after racing Sunday and Tuesday, I flew home Wednesday, drove to Northampton Thursday, and went straight into race president mode. If you want a sense of how different the level in the US is from Europe, consider that I was struggling not to get lapped in Europe, but I came home tired and jet lagged, and managed to be top 10 two days in a row in races I was actually organizing.

So now the dust is settling from the Cycle-Smart International. We’re paying the bills, sending out the results, hoping we didn’t lose any money. The budget for the whole weekend looks like it’s coming in around $30,000, and since we run the race entirely on entry fees, it’s going to be close. I stuck around in Boston the past few days to vote, and sleep. I’m going to take a very deep mental and physical rest week this week, and got that started with a nearly 3-hour nap yesterday afternoon. Tonight I’m headed up to Janice’s in Portland for the rest of the week, and only plan on one local race this weekend. No travel to Toronto or New Jersey for me. Novare Res with Janice tonight, hopefully to celebrate the comeback of hope in America.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 3, 2008

CONTACT:

Alan Atwood

Media Coordinator, Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series

(802) 238-0196

alan_atwood@hotmail.com

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (November 3, 2008) – The oldest UCI cyclocross race in North America has showcased some of America’s best talent in the sport.  After this weekend, you can add 3 more names to that list, including a star in the making in Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld’s Jamey Driscoll, who chalked up UCI wins 4 and 5 this weekend at the Cycle-Smart International.

Driscoll’s formula for success this year has been a steady start on lap 1 and then turning on the pressure for each lap after that until he finds himself alone.  Saturday was no exception as the first move of the day was made by Happy Valley native Matt White (Bikereg.com/Joe’s Garage), who looked to do the same he did in 2006 when he won the event. White was eventually caught by Driscoll, Andy Jacques-Maynes (Specialized / KMC p/b Cal Giant), and Dan Timmerman (Reynolds / Swan Cycles).  Once this lead group was established, Driscoll continued to apply the pressure until Timmerman and Jacques-Maynes were spit off the back, and eventually a game White succumbed to the momentum of Driscoll. With Driscoll in the clear, Jacques-Maynes made his own move on the penultimate lap to get away from White to claim the 2nd spot; White claimed 3rd comfortably over Timmerman.

Sunday saw the same style of race but the players shifted around a bit. Day 2 saw Timmerman take a quick advantage as he looked to go out like he did in round 2 in Vermont a month earlier.  But the chase group would have none of it, as a larger group this day caught up to Timmerman on lap 4 including Jacques-Maynes, Justin Lindine (Targetraining), White, Driscoll, and Chris Jones (Jittery Joe’s/Sonic).  Once together, Driscoll turned on the gas again and within 2 laps the lead group was whittled for a familiar foursome, Driscoll, White, Jacques-Maynes, and Timmerman.  As can happen, pressure by one can cause mistakes by another; and first to bobble was Timmerman, as a crash in the sand pit took him out of the group and held back White and Jacques-Maynes, giving Driscoll the margin he needed to walk away from the rest of the group and a ticket to win #2 on the weekend.  A game Timmerman made it back to the chase group, but was out of gas as White managed to outsprint Jacques-Maynes for 2nd on the day.

It was a wide open women’s race on the weekend with the stage ready for another rider to shine.  And the talent that came to Northampton this weekend mixed New England regulars Rebecca Wellons (Ridley), Maureen Bruno-Roy (MM Racing p/b Seven Cycles), and Sally Annis (NEBC/CycleLoft/Devonshire Dental) with mid-Atlantic veteran Diedre Winfield (Velo Bela/Kona), cross rookie Laura Van Gilder (C3-Sollay), and Ontario veteran Natasha Elliott (EMD Serono/Stevens).  This combination of talents was sure to produce a couple of excellent races on the weekend, and they did not disappoint.

Winfield started out well on lap 1 on Saturday with all the regulars sans Wellons in tow chasing.  Once together, Elliott showed she had the good form on the day regularly taking turns out front with Winfield, who prefers to take control of a field during the race.  The 5 riders were eventually brought back to 3 as Bruno-Roy and Annis succumbed to stumbles, but meanwhile Elliott turned up the volume in the engine room leaving Winfield and Van Gilder in an unfamiliar position of chasing. The two eventually caught up, but simultaneous bobbles at the barriers by them was enough to send Elliot away for good and she took the win. Van Gilder sprinted away from Winfield to secure 2nd on the day.

Day 2 started out with Annis taking the hole shot and the lead going to the lower section, but after lap 2 it was the same group of 5 seeking the win on the day.  Once again Elliott charged on the front to break up the group, but unlike yesterday only Annis was spit off the back; Bruno-Roy was able to hang on and the lead group of 4 kept it together until the end of the race.  While Elliott appeared to be the dominant racer on the weekend, Van Gilder was able to run mistake free on day 2 and showed the group why she is the best sprinter in the women’s game, easily taking the win on the final 200 meters of the course.  Elliott was able to hang on to 2nd with Winfield rounding out the podium.

In other races, Will Dugan (Richard Sachs) was motivated to get his U23 jersey back, and did so on Saturday with a powerful performance, but Nick Keough (Jittery Joe’s/Sonic) ripped it right back on Sunday to setup a 3-way showdown for the series crown between the 2 and Fiordifrutta’s Toby Marzot.  Jonny Bold (Corner Cycles) dominated the weekend with a sweep on the Masters race with Mark McCormack (Team FUJI fueled by Clif Bar) and local veteran Dan Coady (We Love Bicycles) cornering the podium spots on the weekend.  The juniors race was dominated by a couple of newcomers to New England cross, with the mid-Atlantic cross rising star Jeff Bahnson (Secret Henry’s Team/Van Dessel) winning on day 1 and New England road star Gavin Mannion (Hot Tubes) gaining revenge on day 2 handing Bahnson his first major race loss of 2008.

The series resumes on November 29th as Tom Stevens hosts the Bay State Cyclo-Cross Classic in Sterling, Massachusetts the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The 2008 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series is brought to you by Verge Sport, makers of fine cycling clothing and products since 1993; by Cycle-Smart, purveyors of personalized cycling coaching and solutions for riders across the country; by Cycle-Ops, makers of high-tech accessories to meet any indoor training plans; by Echappe, rent-to-own the latest in race wheels – try before you buy at Echappe; by BikeReg.com, the official online registration service of the NECCS; and by Paul Weiss Photo/Video, the official photographer of the NECCS. 

You can visit these sponsors and get more information on the series by going to the web at http://www.necyclocross.com.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2008/oct08/podboreny08

Again, I didn’t get lapped 4 times, I got lapped with 4 laps to go. There has to be a better way to score lapped riders that reflects when they got lapped. I have to work on that.

It would also be great if you could put little self-made notes that they put in the results next to your name, huh? “Crashed into tree. Broke finger. Broke bike. Stopped racing.” That’s the thing with results. They’re absolute. You think you’re alone out there, languishing in the back of the field in the middle of nowhere, feeling like your result doesn’t matter, that no one’s watching. Then all of a sudden you’re listed on Cyclingnews as getting lapped 4 times in some international event. That’ll teach me.

Once I crashed and was out of the top 15 or 20, I felt like I was in 100th place, and mentally I was already on the plane home. The course was really difficult, and really dangerous. “Old time cyclo-cross” Parbo called it after the race. Normally I’m good on courses like that so I tried to stay motivated. But Tabor was such a peak, and this race was an afterthought. I decided not to risk death and just rode a safe tempo, waiting for Dlask to put me out of my misery so I could go home.

The past 24 hours has taken me from Prague, to Paris, to Boston, to Portland, and now today on to Northampton. I’ve been so busy worrying about my own racing that I’ve barely mentioned that I have this little race weekend to oversee. I can’t wait for my rest week next week.

Still have lots of stories about Tabor for you. Soon.

The broken knuckle will heal ok, but I snapped my left hand Red shifter clear in half. And I don’t mean the lever. I mean the shift body, like the hood itself. I guess I might have had the clamp a little tight.

I just got to the airport hotel in Prague and have to catch up on work here, but I’ll try to blog more before I fall asleep.