Kross Kickoff!!!

Just a quick update. 

Kross Kickoff went great for all involved, huge shout out to Dave Byers, Jay P. and everyone else who played their part.  Everyone had a blast.

The course was a bit more technical than last year and was made even hardered by all the DUST!!!  Its been very dry here as of late and a few sections of the course were covered in a super fine dust that was deeper than it apperared, causing you to have to ride it in a straight line in order to not wash out.

The boys of black, green and orange had a great day, although not as many top steps as we may have liked.  I think the ladies took all the steps except the top one, and were very impressive indeed.  Fitzy himself took the second step in the Masters race after a race long battle a human lung.

In the Mens A and B catagories, Gabe "50 cent" and Bergy ruled all by banging heads (literally) throughout the race to finish one-two respectively.  Dave Saurman and I finished second and third respectively in the B's after not being able to catch a rider from Peaked Sports who was absolutely flying.  I think Dave might have had a chance early on, until he clipped a barrier before the run up.

Things went well for me.  After coming into the first corner in forth position, I drilled it for the first lap, only to find myself alone with a 5-10 second gap on forth place.  Once I was by myself, I just tried to be smooth and work on extending that lead to secure third place.  And that was pretty much the story for the next 5 laps. I eventually finished third, averaging 163bpm with a max of 193bpm for 50 mins.  Moosecross is next up in two weeks, so I'm getting after the intensity this week in hopes of making the top 10 there. 

Thanks for reading guys.

Here we go...

Well folks, that time is now here.  All the blabbing I've done for the past few months about training (or lack there of), weight (more the excess of), or being overworked for one reason or another matter little anymore.  It is now time to put up, or shut up.

Tomorrow is the first race of the season for us 'crossers, a very happy day.  Tomorrow I will ride around for 45min., completely hypoxic, trying not to crash and burn on the barriers and run up of the Kross Kickoff course in my sleepy village of Victor ID.  This is the first race of a four race series, and the first race of what will be a eight week cross season for me.

The bike is tuned.  New wheels, new seat (had to finally retire the old Turbomatic), new rubber...all the bases have been covered.  Tonight I will go out, do an hour on the course, throw in a few solid efforts to get the HR up, then go home and eat a solid pasta dinner.  Just like the old days...

I'm a little more than excited to say the least.  I got a chance to do the Jackson Group Ride on Tuesday night to get my one real hard ride of the week in and it went very well.  I hung tough till we hit the bigger hills, then turned around and did a few hill repeats till the group came back from the turn-around.  We all cruised in from Wilson after that and I will say, the legs felt good.

Tomorrow will start with my favorite pre-race breakfast (waffles of course), then just stay on top of the hydration till 10.30a in order to get a solid hour of warm-up in.

So here we go...

Home Sweet Home.

Home is a good place.  Its a place you feel comfortable, feel like you can be yourself without any judgement.  A place you feel grounded, but can still reach for your goals.  I have always had this in my personal and professional life, with lots of support around me that let me push myself.

And now I couldn't be more stoked to land with the boys at Fitzgerald's Bicycles for this coming 'cross season.  These guys are the most supportive, proactive, fun-loving group around.  And I will get to line up with them this fall proudly wearing the black, green and orange of the Fitzy crew.

These guys essentially brought cyclocross to this area (as well as the Victor Bike Park, snow biking, indoor cycling training in the winter, and tons of support for our trail networks), with Moosecross and the Victor Cyclocross series.  So in a round about way, they brought me back to cycling.

Now road cyclist haven't always the most welcoming breed of rider in the world, I know cause I was one of them once upon a time.  Unfortunately, I once did my fair share of judging others.  Names like Twinkie, Fred, Gomer, OTB Joe, and a whole list of others comes to mind.

But these guys are different.  In my first cyclocross race, which was the first Moosecross so many years ago, these guys were instantly supportive of any and all.  They cheered me, and everyone else, with a vigor only seen in the most intense cyclocross settings.  I hadn't seen anything like it before.

I always knew these were the guys I wanted to ride with, but wanted to wear that jersey proudly.  So I never quite got things together to approach them about riding for them.  Now, don't get me wrong.  They asked me numerous times and I'm pretty sure they would have supported me even if I'd never ridden a bike, weighed 300lbs and  had a "rookie mark" tattooed on my forehead.  That's the kind of guys they are.  They want everyone to have a good time riding a bike.  It is also a bonus they are sponsored by my favorite brewery, Snake River Brewery, with whom I have had a professional relationship with for years.

And so it was that yesterday, my birthday, I went into the shop and picked up a team uniform, 'cross team skinsuit, some new rubber the team will ride this season, and a few other items.  Everything felt good, except for maybe the skinsuit.  I may still be packing a few too many stones for it too fit just right, but that's OK.  A little more motivation to lose the remaining pounds before things get really going.

I had a really great week of training this week, minus a bailed out attempt to ride from Swan Valley to Victor over Pine Creek Pass.  It wasn't for a lack of trying.  Mel had already dropped me off and I was on my way when my rear wheel broke a spoke, forcing me to call her back for a ride home.  After that, I decided to call it a week and sit on the porch with glass of Hendricks the boys in the kitchen got me for my B-day.  I was able to also walk 18 holes of golf on Monday which was a nice way to stretch the legs before this weeks training.

This week will be more of the same.  Short intervals tomorrow and Thursday, some long intervals on Saturday and a MTB ride on Sunday.  Should be a pretty brutal week.

We will also be abstaining from the beer for the next few weeks in an attempt to squeeze into that skinsuit by Moosecross.

See you cats on the cross course.