I wish that I wasn’t taking off for Portland this weekend. Muscle Cross is going to be a blast. I have always wanted to race in Buckley park. It is the only park in town with a good hill and surely the Durango Cyclery crew will make an interesting course. Probably a beer feed in there somewhere. It is supposed to snow as well to make things even more fun. If you are around and have a cross bike or mountain bike, don’t miss it.

I threw up some more pictures on Flickr, check them out. Thanksgiving bash and some winter cross riding in 8 inches of snow. It was great, but probably better skiing than riding conditions.

Threw up some pictures on FLickr from the past week or so. Some good pictures of Becker making his cross comback. The fans were awesome! Jed brough his whole crew down. They were great and kept us going all day! Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving…more later.

Take a few moments to complete our survey and you could win a Crumpler Messenger Bag!  MissingSaddle is offering a giveaway of these fabulous Crumpler ‘The Complete Seed’ messenger bags, each with a matching Thirsty Al phone pouch, for your participation in our survey. The survey will take just a few minutes of your time and help us to find our way into your mind more efficiently.

The Complete Seed is a fully-featured messenger bag valued at $105. It has a water resistant 1000d nylon shell & 420d ripstop nylon lining, 3 x external pockets, 3 x internal front pockets, removable shoulder pad with “Third Leg” stability strap, clip & Velcro release flap, adjustable main strap with Quick Flick (TM) buckle and strap-trap accessory loop.

Crumpler’s Thirsty Al pouch ($15) offers a protective environment for your compact “e-vices”. It features a water resistant 900d nylon base, spine & flap with 420d ripstop nylon lining, neoprene font & sides, Velcro release belt loop & flap, card pocket under flap and lanyard attachment loop.

 Crumpler bags are available at www.crumplerbags.com, Crumpler stores in New York (45 Spring Street, and our custom bag store at 49 8th Avenue) and specialty retailers nationwide. 

Click Here to take The Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=fzwlzvJW8tu_2bpapKb3u_2b3w_3d_3d

Man did I blow it yesterday! The race course in North Carolina was the same on Sunday as the previous day, fast, nothing technical, and the same strong guys.  I felt a ton better, but still no snap and hanging on with the accelerations.  The start went good which is all I have been hoping for lately since earlier in the year I was terrible.  I got the whole shot and kept the pace high hoping to get rid of the stragglers from the start.  It worked pretty well but soon after the road section I got caught in a crash.  I closed this gap which took allot of energy.  It was the same break (yes I am calling it a break since it was a road race on cross bikes) as the day before.  Justin Spinneli, Steve Tilford, Jon Hamblen, Sundt, some fast guy who rode for Turin, and a couple otheres. 

With a half lap to go, Tilford dumped it when he was second wheel in one of the turns.  Spinneli got a good gap, I jumped across and we had about 5 seconds on the rest of the group.  This is where I blew it.  We came into a 180 left turn that went into a steep ride/run section.  Everyone had been riding it.  Spinelli went into it first and I thought I would do the old jump off the bike in the turn and stuff him and then run it hard to the top.  The stuffing part worked, but he was able to stay on the bike and actually got a gap on me.  Not only that, everyone else got back on.  I went for a sprint finish for the win to flopping back to 5th place in about 5 seconds.  I tried everything on that run up, even cutting Spinelli off and trying to keep him from getting away from me.  It was lame.  I have never raced like that and was a bit disappointed in myself. 

After the race I felt like an idiot. I apologized to Justin for trying to force him into a mistake.  He was pretty angry about it, as I would be.  That just isn’t how I race and I felt like it was a complete jerkoff move on my part.  The better man won, I cracked. 

Here I am sitting in the airport, humbled from bike racing once again.  My form is no better after taking some rest.  I still feel tired.  What is up with me? More of a break? I just rested!  I am thinking that a solid week of good hours and intensity will bring me around.  We will see.  I am just ready for some turkey and stuffing this week. This is my favorite holiday. 

It has been way to long since the last update.  I have pretty much been on vacation from the site.  Being home in Durango has been nice and very much needed.  Getting back into my own routine and catching up with friends and family after being gone on the road racing is great for recovery. 

Where to start! I went up to Gunnison last weekend and it was a blast! The course was fast and fun, with hop-able barriers, I was even hopping them which means they were only about 2 inches high! No seriously, it was a great course.  Unfortunately, after a month of racing and coming back from sea level to altitude, the body just wasn’t having it. I was into it and wanted to get er done, but the rest of myself was saying no.  I stuck it out and crept around the course.  After that I decided to skip my own home race in Durango and watch it.  It killed me to watch it, but I am pretty sure I made a good call. 

So now I am out in North Carolina.  I skipped the 2nd round of the USGP to come here for a couple UCI C2 races in search of some points and some legs.  Finally I feel rested and motivated to race again, but today the legs were a bit sluggish and I had no power.  That is typical after not riding the bike for 5 days.  I was still in the mix until one lap to go in the race.  Took a corner wide and Justin Spinnelli came underneath me,overlapped his wheel and I was down for the count.  I actually range my bell pretty good.  After slowly getting up  I started my chase and then flatted shortly after, rode into the pits for my 3rd bike change of the day, and just held on for 6th.  A race that I should have won ended up completely going to shit.

Tomorrow is another day, I am hoping to change the outcome.  The course is pretty fast and there is nothing technical at all.  There is allot of sitting on and not enough turns to really get away.  It is still a fun race though. 

The best highlight of the day would have to be the team manager Greg Becker pinned the numbers on after not racing (or Training!) for 3 years.  He was out of the start grid faster than a Kentucky Derby race horse.  After 1/4 of a lap he was going backwards just as quick.  I think he was even walking over the barriers.  It was awesome though, I heckled him the whole time he was out there.  I have some photos, jsut forgot my USB cable.  I will post them when I get home because they are solid gold.