!!!!!!! Mr. MISANTHROPIC !!!!!

I wonder if the title of this post will raise a red flag at the NSA?

My poor road bike (Salsa Campeon) which has been in more than its share of crashes this yer, has developed a crack in the downtube. Its in the same place that it got crinkled when I whacked (maybe “fell in” is a better description) a giant crater up at some stupid road race this summer.

For lack of anything else to train on, I’m still riding it, but I know that it’s just a matter of time before I go on my teeth…

Well, last night was the Casters training race which was pretty fun. Night time cross racing in a city park, whilst getting screamed at by a pack of Cub Scouts. And I only got lapped by 1 dude.  Yeah! I guess not so much fun for the guy with the busted collarbone.

Highlights include riding with Matt on the first couple laps, behind a Casters dude with a floppy tubular, then watching said tubular fly off his wheel, causing him to crash in front of us. Its not like he just rolled it, either. The entire tire came off the wheel all at once. It was like ones of those cans that has the jokey snake pop out.  It was pretty funny.

Feels like the gams are finally coming around this week. Hopefully I can start getting some better results in the upcoming Verge races. I wish I felt like I did back in June…

I’m seeing pictures of myself racing from this past weekend, and I’m a bit shocked.

How come nobody told me before that I look like a crazed mountain man stuffed into a black and red sausage casing?

You won’t see me posting any pictures of myself on here.

…and if I don’t feel like writing about bike racing, I’m not going to. Yeah, yeah, there was this big cross race this past weekend, it was hard and fun and fast, blah blah blah. Cross is supposed to be hard. That’s why its called “Cyclocross” and not “Pansy-cross” or “Gypsy-grab-ass-cross”.  Oops, I guess I just did.

This week’s Tough Chick award goes to my wife, Amy, for stacking 3 cords of wood by herself.

Not only was the feat itself amazing, but her husband wins “Biggest Pussy” award for not wanting to blow his back out before a stupid bike race, in which he sucked ass anyways.

Well, yesterday was the first cross race of the season for me and most of my homies. It was the super technical Eco-cross out on the Cape. I would say all around I had a pretty terrible time. Chuck and I suffered at the back of the elite race for the full hour, and got lapped by a decent percentage of the field. It was one of those races where you just hope they pull you early so as to get it over with. By the end, I was running numbers through my head, trying to figure out how much $$$ I could make if I sold all my cross gear on eBay.

The downpours held off until everyone had crossed the finish line. At least I have that to be glad about.

Anyway, hats off to Matt for placing 7th, in the money, and right behind the stars-and-striped Paul Curley. And Pat M, who was able to finish his first CX race ever in the C’s, without any major incidents.

Seriously, if next weekend’s USGP doesn’t go markedly better, I’m pulling the plug on the whole stupid thing.