Camel with Mark Blackwelder (Tron), winner of single speed and 4th place in A's. Killing it.

"Sexual Camel? That's what my wife is!"
-Cross Crusade, Astoria, OR

Ride Out the Depression with a Road Trip?

Tell me this isn't a good idea. Two grand for a 21 passenger diesel bus. All of a sudden the economy tanks and I have my days free. I'm thinking buy the bus, gut it and put a veggie oil filtration system in it, a bed, kitchen, bike rack et cetera and race bikes, blog, podcast, temp work and race bikes. But where the F do I park something that big?

Cross season begins

Well, the 2008 'cross season kicked off for me at CCCX's course on Sunday in the infield at Laguna Seca. For those that know the area, we climbed up the pedestrian path next to the corkscrew...which is steep enough to make me really wish I rode a mountain bike. Right after the climb, they added an awkward, off camber turning approach to a barrier. I think the best way to train for this sort of feature would be to have someone give me a swift kick in the junk right before attempting a smooth dismount. Focus. 

So...race report. We A folks lined up with a couple ringers in addition to the rock lobster and cal giant boys....Ben Jacques Mayne, and some old guy named Ned in Specialized kit. As far as I know, those guys up front were on motorcycles, because I lost sight of them before the first hill. I managed to settle into a rhythym, holding onto top 15  on the first lap. I didn't have any major errors except for some poor dismounts on aforementioned barrier at the top of the hill...and lung mucous that I got all over my shiny new Altezza kit. Thanks to Kirt's skills clinic, I almost had the higher-speed barrier dialed...I was one step off on this one, but still moved through it decently. I'm turning the bike since there's a 180 degree left directly after the barrier :-)

http://bikeguy.smugmug.com/gallery/6226196_YzcsJ#392866629_QqMSG

Halfway through the race, I got gobbled up on a flat, fast section by a small group that was trading pulls against the wind, and couldn't quite hold a wheel. Kirt, I tried. I tried.

I finished in 17th, which I'm muy happy with for my first A race. Given the sonofabitch climb in this one, I don't know how I feel about back-to-back weekends with McLaren, but it sounds like they've cut out some of the mtb-like brutality from last year.

Good to see everybody out there, and get this season kicked off! 

Nobody likes a quitter

The neck brace is off so now I have to give up the smoking that I love so much... again. If you've never smoked, don't start. What they don't tell you in Health Ed class is that you're gonna love it.

I hate quitting.

Round 8 - The Final

The last ever Track Fights of 2008 was a blast. We had to have an impromptu number pinning clinic on the B race start line since mountain bikers don't know how to pin numbers on anything but their handlebars. Wrong Way brought their boys and owned the B field. Of course, they won the Team Comp. After beating on the B field for the fourth straight week Braulio thought he'd also race the A race. Props for sacking up after burning most of his matches in the B race, but it didn't last long. A's are F---ing hard.

In the A's Matt and Kimmel ripped the field apart before halfway and stuck their break to the finish. The chase group was confused since lapped riders we constantly between them and the leaders gobbling up points. They sprinted like mad not knowing that they were only sprinting for the glory. In the end the Team Comp in the A's was a tight race and surprizingly the Sex Camels had to give themselves prizes for winning. Kind of a shocker since almost all of 'em got lapped in the first Track Fights eight weeks ago.

Results are up. Photos are up.