Dan Action

Eco-Cross September 23, 2007

   It’s a glorious weekend here in Providence, and I suspect, the rest of New England. There’s a very specific feeling when it feels lke the last of the warm nights.  I found myself just cruising up and down the river downtown through the evening’s twilight.  The cooler air set in with the dark and something inside of me urged me inside a rarely visited cafe for a hot chocolate.  I drank it in silence but the whole time I felt an excitement I can’t exactly place. It’s a feeling that comes about perennially for me. There seems to be no naming it, even given it’s familiarity.

Yesterday was the Eco-cross race in Falmouth, MA.  I left early with the likes of Lynn and Mike Sam, and their dog Lyons.  We got there early so Lynn could warm up a bit. It was here first cx race of the season and she handily won the beginner women’s race.  There was definitely no complaining on my part about spending the day at this gorgeous farm. I had my first ever conversation with a parrot, marvelled over the plumage of various chickens, and raced my bike over a punishing but awesome course that meandered over the grounds of the farm. It was the first good, loud cx race this season. I think the all-you-can-drink Harpoon beer and a well set up spectator section near the beer figured heavily into the rowdiness.  Every time I went through the barriers it seemed deafening.  That’s what I like. The men’s open race went off in the early afternoon. I was pretty excited about it because since i had been there for a while, I got to ride the course a whole bunch. Even so, I didn’t know quite what to expect from it racing at speed. I was pumped to find out. The race went well. The course bottle-necked after a  bit of dirt road into a short section through the woods.  I  didn’t really go for the hole-shot again (see previous post), so I made up a few places in those woods.  The on a loose descent with a harrowing right turn at the bottom I took a risk and passed a few more folks since the course was about to narrow drastically.   Through the single-track thereafter, I made up what I could on places that would allow me to pass.  I found myself, after three laps or so, somewhere hovering around the top ten.  After a few more laps I found myself alone.  It’s funny when you end up alone in a race. I manage to keep pushing the pace, but my cautious side comes out on the sketchier sections. I just don’t take the risks or the lines I would if I knew someone was hot on my heels or if the gap in front of me seemed surmountable. I got passed on the last lap due to that caution and still pulled of a top ten.  I felt pretty OK about it. I worked for it, I’ll tell you.  I got my entrance fee back and Gewili snuck me his bottomless beer cup for post race libations.  It was an awesome day for the old CX, and the bike is treating me better than anything I’ve ridden in the past.  Can’t wait to hear the details of Hannah’s escapades racing the UCI events out in Seattle.  Cheers, Y’all.

Get on up!! September 19, 2007

That’s exactly what happened. Scott G. woke me up at 5:30am to get our asses up to Auburn NH. for the Sucker Brook race. He was doing his first cx race so he was to start at nine o’clock or something asinine like that. His offer to drive was irrefutable, so there I was, in the car sleeping all the way up there from Providence, and an half an hour after we arrived. My race was not until two so there was plenty of time to wake up.

One thing about ‘cross is that the world closes in around you tight and fast. Everyone, and everything for that matter, is so familiar. Obviously the bikes and races stay consistently similar, and you can usually expect to see the same folks, but the weather, for me sets the tone. In the very smell of fall, even at the onset, I remember every fall of years past. It is a season so packed with nostalgia and whimsy. All is one, you know? Then there is the sense of exactly how insular the ‘cross scene is. Everyone is reading everyone else’s blogs, or riding someone else’s frame they built or cheering, by name, people they’ve truly never met. It makes for a pretty warming feeling all together. Hannah and I talked a lot about that on the way home from the race that evening. We were both dreary and beat from the afternoon’s races, entirely too tired to do anything about the goofy smiles that stuck to our faces.

How’d the race go, you ask? Well, great, I’d reply. The start of the elite race was fine. I am purposely not trying for the hole-shot in the early races this season, especially at races with a low number of attendees. The reason is, I want to work on working my way through throngs of people in anticipation of the bigger races coming up. This year I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to rest on the advantage a call-up gives you. So there I was not at the very back, but close, By the time we came out of the woods I was nestled solidly towards the front. As we entered the sand I went to make a move and got put in a bad line, or chose it, I don’t know, and there was, face first in the sand. Mt bike came from out of nowhere and landed on my back. Then up I was, running. cursing, and moving backwards in the group. I dug deep and started the legs turning to get back some places and by the fourth lap or so, was doing pretty good somewhere around tenth. Me and Mr. Coady went back and forth for a while, and together we caught Curtis B. and worked past a few others as well. Jos H. must have had a mechanical or something because in my peripheral I saw flashes of red, then as I was riding on curtis’ wheel, Jos put it down on the road section, so I went with him for as long as I could, but I was hurting pretty good. Adam Myerson, who also had a mechanical, was quickly coming up on me and Coady, I was trying to hold the two of them off, but after the barriers the were getting away from me. I rode the last two laps alone, just trying to keep the pace up and visual contact with the two n front of me and finished eleventh. Still in the money, which was all I really set out to do. Many laughs were had by all.                                                                           

Yay Life. September 11, 2007

This weekend found Hannah and myself driving to Milford, NH. for our first CX race of the year. The two of us, along with our friend Lynn went to the new training race in Wrentham, MA. last Wednesday and decided we would make the weekend jaunt. The end of last week really cooled down up here and the sky had the perpetual overcast I find somewhat synonymous with ‘cross. I was all antsy on the ride up, especially when it started raining. While warming up, I even thought about arm warmers. It couldn’t have been over 60 degrees. Hannah had a strong start, battling it out for 7th with another lady, then tragedy struck. I waited for her to come around again and noticed some huge gaps were passing before me, but no Hannah. When she finally did come by, there was blood all over her face and legs. I was a little worried to say the least, but then she passed a couple of other riders and I figured she’d be all right.

My race was not so eventful, Me and Jamie Belchak swapped 5th and 6th place for a while, then with 3 to go I got a flat. I was right by the pit so I ran in, not that I had brought any extras, but to beg for alms. All the wheels folks offered were 9 speed, so, no go. The year I decide to make myself a citizen of modern equipment town, I get busted. Figures.

I drove home not really all that discouraged to my surprise. I felt great during the race and I have a good idea of my potential for the season. The only thing that stings is that I was in the money, and I really could have used it. Oh well. All the ride home Hannah held a block of frozen peas on her face. I figured I was lucky in some ways.

Autumnal Hopeful

I took last week off to understand more exactly which track I am on here at this time of my life. The results are in, and frankly, I feel pretty uplifted. Just to temper the mood, I speak strictly in business-only terms here. Keeping a friendship from falling apart is ferocious. That aside, I spent Labor Day weekend with my mother putting together the new team kits. In three days worth of work we were able to put together two jerseys, two skinsuits, and an extra pair of un-embroidered shorts. Just to give a little backround here, last year my Mom, a gifted seamstress, got into the idea I posed about making some jerseys for the team out of some wool. They were made and from there the concept grew. This year we could make better ones.

Sewing with my mom was really confidence boosting. Her comfort with both her studio and the machines occupying space therein rubbed off on me. She makes things seem like no big deal where I am stressing about them, that’s pretty valueable. One needs to look at these types of things as a process with no part inequal to the next; as with any process of building or construction, it helps to abstract what exactly the finished project will be and concentrate on each step to achieve it. So from fabric store to skinsuit, we made it happen. It took a lot of time and work, but it was so worth it.