Birthday Present to Myself

So far the Cal Cup has been treating me well. I got slapped around by Mooney at Warnerville, but hung tough at Patterson Pass and then stepped it up this past weekend. Saturday was my birfday, and lucky for me it was also the Dunnigan Hills road race. Dunnigan is flat and I am fat (for a cyclist, okay, for a cyclist) so we get along pretty well. We noodled around for the first lap, then I noodled around in a silly break for most of the second lap before betting my life on a few little moves to find some room for the sprint. I managed to hold off Tyler Brandt for the win. Yes, Brandt. Sure, he got a hell of a leadout, but that was still a nifty bit of sprinting by him.

Dunnigan can be a really fun race when a howling wind shatters the field, but this year was pretty calm and it made the race play out like the movie Contact: 98% of the show is just sitting through BS and waiting for the climax. But just so we're clear, my race was much cooler than Contact.

Sunday was the Suisun Harbor Criterium. They ran the course backwards from years past, but it was pretty standard. The course was fast and there was a lot of attacking and I burned a few matches that would have been best saved for the finish. And why is that? Well, I ended up losing the race to Colin Samaan by 3 inches. Yup, 3. Paula showed me the video. Not my finest hour. I can't help but wonder if spending the remainder of my Saturday floating the American River in the hot, hot sun may have cost me half a step. Oh well. I feel like a dipshit, but Kevin was surprisingly nice about it and so long as I learn a lesson from this then its not a total failure.

I've been coming across references to comic books a lot lately in my daily life. I've seen a number of movies adapted from them and recently finished reading "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" which focuses on the lives of some young Jewish artists around the time of WWII who end up in the comic book business (it was pretty good, by the way.) The most recent run-in though, was a link to a few scans of pretty much the most awesome comic book ever. Its called "Cat 3" and you should do yourself a favor and check those scans out the website Out Your Backdoor.

Thanks to Sam Johnson I also found a nice little essay by a cycling enthusiast named John, which does a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of cycling. He also delves into the history of cycling and some bike tech. Definitely worth a minute of your time.

I'm kicking it down Peninsula way right now kitty-sitting for the F-bomb and trying to figure out how 4 cats who eat so little can crap so much. I was never all that great at math, but something isn't adding up here. I'm stoked that we can map the human genome, but how about some answers to life's bigger mysteries? Meh, maybe Yukie knows.

I'm fairly cracked right now and I don't know why. Either the birthday festivities took more out of me than I thought or 8 months of racing is finally catching up with me. I'm thinking I'm going to play it safe, take it easy this week and hope the legs come around for this weekend. They damn well better. Sunday is the University RR. I know this course from my collegiate days and the profile looks like barber's comb. 20 steep climbs, 20 fast descents and no respite anywhere. My plan is to hand-sling Vinny to victory on the first lap and then practice handing up bottles from a seated position. Can't wait!

Flight of the Mammoth

Hello readers, and by readers I mean mom and aunt Debby.

Just a quick note here to assure you both (and anyone else who may be lurking) that I'm still alive and well. Yes, believe it or not I'm actually doing pretty well. Rough racing up at the BMCCCC left me pretty cracked, but after a good week of mostly wholesome rest I feel like I've gotten my legs back. I put in a good time trial this Saturday for 3rd place. Mooney crushed me. Then today I absolutely amazed myself by clawing my way over the climbs at Patterson Pass and finishing a very respectable 4th. Mooney crushed me again*, but I put up an honorable fight for the fatties!

I'd been dreading this race for, well, probably the last 6 months. Last year I pulled my ass out of bed at 4am and drove two hours to this race only to get kicked square in the nuts, metaphorically speaking. I got dropped halfway through the first lap. So, yup, I'm pretty pleased with how things went this year. The team was amazing. I know I find myself saying that often, but its true. The guys were as tough as gladiators, as precise as neurosurgeons, and when things got hectic they stayed cooler than Christopher Walken driving a Zamboni with no coat. Bosch was gliding up the hill like he was on rails, and shit talking the climbers the whole time.

The true revelation of the day was Mr. Vincent Owens. I'm going to nominate his ride today as one of the most impressive performances of the year. He attacked from the gun and rode solo for half the race as the peloton shed riders left and right trying to drag him back. And when the combined power of the bunch (including and entire Cal Giant squad) managed to finally bring him back, he just kept on attacking, marking moves and basically kicking ass all day. He dragged my sorry ass all the way up the hard climb on lap 3 thereby keeping me in the race, and then laid down a suicide pull that set up Mooney for the win and Switters for the podium (nearly ripping their legs off in the process.) Vinny is a damn talented rider and it puts a smile on my face to see him tip his hand a bit and show us all what he's capable of. Chapeau!

So yeah. Bike racing. Woo! I'm looking forward to some (much) flatter races this coming weekend, and the fact that I don't have to wake up at 4:30 to get to them. Sweet!

*Note: To be clear, Mooney didn't just crush me, he crushed everyone and won both races.