Dan Action

Doing it Again October 23, 2009

   The door that opens up to cyclocross season has been swung wide again. I find myself just now biting into the thick of it. As I nibbled around the edge looking for a softer way to the center I left this blog untouched. But now that’s over. I always find myself envious of the folks that can post daily of even bi-weekly their thoughts and travails. I’d love to make it a goal and bring this blog from simply being, more or less, a race journal and actually put up more varied subject matter.

Anyway. Let me just say that I still love racing. Last weeekend’s races of Granogue and Wissahickon left me wanting more and more chances to validate myself on the bike. Saturday was essentially sledding with your bike down mudslides of hilarious proportions. I watched race after race of strings of riders cascading down step, off camber hills fighting to stay on their bikes.

Is it unfair to my present place in time to be so wistfully looking forward to next year? So much is already on deck in my mind. Here in Philly there is the series of rides known as the Spring Classics. Set up twenty or so years ago, the three rides that comprise the series make up the distance of La Primavera; Milan San Remo.  There is talk of making a well-timed trip to Gainesville, Fl for a February race.  Then there’s the highlight of each year that for the past two years has proven to be one of the best things that I have gotten myself involved with; the 2010 schedule of rides to do with my compatriots in the Rapha Continental.

But I am ahead of myself. It’s not like I am wont for things to do here in time and in the soon to come future.  Next weekend I embark on a trip to a couple of New England cross race: Canton Mass and Putney Vermont. Neither are UCI races, but both are staples in the schedules of many who enjoy racing. I will be taking the trip with some stellar company which I’m pretty sure will rival the fun of the races themselves.

I’ll post more often, I promise.

Anyway, let’s look at some photos.

Every Summer… July 15, 2009

… Has it’s flood of memories, all with a new perspective courtesy of another year past. I will still swoon to the same punk 7″ I did when I was 20 but with the added baggage of another year squeezed between when I first heard a certain set of songs and now, adding another layer of experience to seem even further from the time it first touched my emotions. It’s no joke, I can really be taken in by a song. It can do something as simple as solidify a moment, and even find a way to go as far as to be tranferrable to the feelings you might have ten or more years later.

I’m listening to a band I should’ve been friends with.   It’s how I think of bands, remember, I came up in the heyday of the D.I. Y. scene.

Well,  to be a little less esoteric, I am going to hit up a road race this weekend. The lure was cast but at a time where my legs feel leaden and the ligaments feel like beef jerky btwhat can you do?  Went for my first ride by my lonesome today. It’s a serious change as I can’t remember the last time I have. It was awesome. No one to charge the pace, No one to lift the pace on. Just riding and listening to R.Kelly and Ted Leo for a couple of hours. I stopped for a minute to pick a bunch of seriously ripe rasberries on the side of the bike path. I seriously feasted on these things. What is the point of leaving the city? If it’s not to come across a scenario such as a throng of un-picked ripened berries, I must be confused. Within a minute I thought I was going to have to resort to making the “shirt scoop” which is where you pull up the bottom of your shirt to make a suitable container for picked goods, but only after you’re full from eating hand full after hand full of whatever it is you are picking.

My next birthday comes up next week. I never took much stock in my birthday as a specific day honored to me in the past. I usually let it go with it’s fellow days, it’s importance maybe lessened, but acknowledged. Last year changed that. My mother’s birthday was June 25th. Mine is July 26th. Last year I was on the alert for that entire span between the two dates. I saw my mother on her birthday as I had usually made the effort to do. She was sick then. The point of someone getting  really sick is that you start to understand that whatever they are sick with is not going to subside, instead it will consume them. When I got the news that exactly that had happened it was my birthday. So forgive me if nostalgia runs wild on me in the deepest days of summer.

If you got some time, check out the feature on the Rapha Continental Site of:   “People Along The Way”

Isn’t it nice to see people presented in a genuine way? Isn’t it refreshing to see random folks not pesented as an inside joke to your peer group? I think so. Because of every person I recognize from these photos, I remember real and serious conversations. And if they weren’t exactly serious, they were a fantastic echange between travellers. The only distance being that of the mode of transport chosen.  These photos are no joke. look at them.

Pool Party June 10, 2009

Well, here in Philly the best harbinger of summer comes in the form of the bike race, the Liberty Classic. This is the race that used to be the determiner of the U.S. pro. It is a time where a huge part of the city shuts down and fans, drunks, and drunk fans head to the race course to indulge and watch some world class racing on the very streets we ride every day.

Leading up to race day, there are events on top of events going on at various shops all over town. Meet this team, ride this bike kind of times. At Bicycle Therapy, we were lucky to have served as the service course for Alex W. and Ed N. from SRAM for the better part of the week. They were also followed a few days later by the SRAM Neutral Support crew. Butch and Bernard came to spend some time at the shop which was absolutely excellent.

These folks were a joy to work around and chat with. Especially after a bombarding visit from some of the folks at Shimano, Alex’s calm and quiet way of explaining their various gear was heartily welcome. Add that to Ed’s meticulous breakdown of Sram’s engineering and super dedication to rider and customer service, I just can’t figure out why I’d buy another component from some other manufacturer. Not to mention their stuff, including the new, super-hot, Force group, works so incredibly well.

Friday came with an open house party with our SRAM friends and the OUCH/ Maxxis team as our guests of honor. The house was absolutely packed. Lee, Therapy’s owner, had done a fantastic job arranging beer and food for the throngs of folks in the shop. The OUCH team were fantastic and gracious guests. Their attitude even whilst being packed into a room with a bunch of half-cut cycling fans and amatuer racers was still overwhelmingly positive. Nice work guys.

Pretty much every shop in Philly and Jersey shuts down on race day. Most shops can be found popping up tents on the course somewhere and firing up the grills. It’s a day of drinking and cajoling with friends and acquaintances.

The racing was fantastic as usual. High Road pretty much took everyone to town by winning in the women’s race and going 1&2 in the men’s.

There’s plenty to drink, that’s for sure. A whole bunch of us lingered around in the park til way after the race and kept drinking. I eventually entered a race of my own. Proposed by some weird frat kids putting up a case of terrible beer to the winner of a three against three race to the top of the hill, we happily took the prize and pretty much just used the beer as props to bite into and splash on each other. We then took a caravan ride to one of the city’s ample fountains, and in the middle of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, started up what felt like a thirteen year old’s birthday pool party. Then on to some wonderful sandwiches followed by thorough sleeping.

Oh, I have a Flickr page now. I just put one up yesterday.   Click Here!

Mountains May 23, 2009

 

I’ve just returned home to Philly last night, dropped off by such good friends I’ve just spent the better part of the last two weeks with in vans, hotels, pools, bars, and roads twisting through the Appalachian mountains.

As a Rapha Continental rider I went southward to take part in a few of the hosted rides put forth by folks as part of the Continental Calling project. My trip took me on rides starting in Tennessee to Georgia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and ultimately, to D.C.  As they post, I urge any reader to check out the more or less daily reports posted on the Rapha Continental Site, which I will add, has gotten a great facelift. Also check out some extras and behind the scenes takes posted quite often on the Embrocation Cycling Journal Blog, as Jeremy himself is along for the ride as well.

It’s hard as I sit here to really convey or even truly unpack all that has occurred in the past twelve days. Rides, drives, storms, meals, conversation, and drinks are only now being digested and becoming actual memory. The best I can do is show all of you some photos for now. In the coming days I will find a way that I can best break down the trip into something more manageable and post more cohesive stories. 

J. Dunn at Gran Fondo

Hotel Rapha

Strictly Recovery

Pretty OK

Tax Man’s Work

Weird Treats

Breakfast at Tryst, Thanks, Sol

Skippin’ March 2, 2009

Somewhat regrettably, I stayed home rather than taking the journey to Indy for the hand made show. I say it was a regrettable decision not because I missed out on an overwhelming array of overly tricked out bikes in such volumes tat were I to be struck blind on my way leaving the convention center, I’d have been sated in my viewing to hold me over the rest of my days. No, more so because of the folks attending, some of who I realised at short notice of their attending, some of who I knew would definitely be there, and one person in particular that I had tentative plans to meet up with. But given a hectic schedule of travel and not too much less busy here at home, I just couldn’t justify another five day trip.

Let’s start with news at home. Hardly noticeable to the human eye, but affirmed by the calendar, spring is due sometime relatively soon. In my profession, even in dire economic times, that means work will start. It’s been a good few months of fun-employment, but actually having an income again would be nice, so I had a meeting or two, however informal to procure a job at my old digs: Bicycle Therapy. Next, Nathalie and I have found a new house and execute the lease for April 1st, in spite of the date this is no joke. We’re looking at twice the space as our current place with a rent of less money than we are paying now.

But let’s mention spring again. Speaking of it will bring it about sooner. Riding has been spectacular. Brendan and I hit the trails down in Delaware, Nathalie and I hit the trails here in town on a freak sixty degree day, and yesterday we joined close to twenty others on a perennial series of rides known as the Spring Classic. It was cold, no lie. The ride traversed streets, single track, and multi-use paths all over Philly with some good, hard efforts thrown in.

In travel news, I went up to NYC to visit the Rapha crew up there and to attend Rapha’s event at Signature Cycles of  unveiling the Timothy Everest cycling suit. The event was very nicely done, and Slate brought out a lot of the 2009 spring line which was nice to see.

Rich Bravo, my beloved host, joined Mr. Everest, Geoffrey his P.R. guy, and Slate for a few drinks afterward. Apres that rendezvous, Bravo and I made our way back to Brooklyn to close down a different bar. We spent our time there concocting heinous drinks which dashed our next day’s plans of a good, long ride with woozy legs and deafening hangovers. After meeting a friend for coffee, I spent some time in the park riding around trying to get my head clear, never mind what state of wreckage my insides felt like. New York, New York.

Growing legs February 23, 2009

The weather here has been pretty moderate, making for very little excuse to not get out and ride. I’ve been putting together some new loops to make things interesting. One with a good number of short but sharp climbs and others with constant rollers. I’m getting pretty excited for some warmer riding weather all the same though. It always feels like I’m working twice as hard in the cold. I really don’t have so much meat on my bones to speak of, so I tend to be really tense when on the bike for a couple of hours or more in the cold. I usually finish the ride, take a hot shower and crash out for a bit.

I did get out on the mountain bike a couple of times. It gave me hope for the season of fast riding to come. The trails were’t too soft, though on one of the warmer days (45 deg.) some sections started to thaw leaving me and Brendan to push our bikes through some horrendous mud.

In other news, all the Rapha coverage from the Tour of Cali we rode is finished up, leaving you, the hopeful viewer, with pages and pages of gorgeous photos and write ups. The gems of this ride, however, seem to be the videos taken. They’re posted up on the Rapha Continental site as well. They are nice additions to the project, not to mention, beautifully shot.

Last night there were some roller races here in Philly. Not too sparsely attended, but also the event seemed to be kept close to folks’ chest so as not to overwhelm the relatively small bar they took place in. Apparently, they were put on by some folks from NYC to rev up some excitement about Monster Track taking place this weekend. The top three finishers here were to be put into the finals at the roller races happening there. I did end up as the final winner and was assured to be given a round trip Chinatown bus ticket from Philly to NY, shown a good time throughout the weekend of events there, and get to compete. I also won a r.e. Load bag. Good times. Folks were super nice and I finally got to meet Jorge, a guy who I’d been in touch with for a while. Brendan got fourth, and a bit tipsy and we took a nice slow road home afterwards.

As spring draws near so much stuff is starting to ramp up. As mentioned earlier, Monster Track is this coming weekend, the Hand made show is also this coming weekend, training races are starting to happen most likely in your area, and I’m trying to navigate it all.

Nathalie’s spring break starts at the end of this week, so I hope to get to spend a bunch of QT with her, including a pre-ride of Battenkill’s new course. Anyone in? Probably the weekend of the seventh and eighth of March.

Here’s some photos to catch you up.

 

Snowed In February 5, 2009

  Well, Philly finally got covered in snow. I have to say that I was most definitely looking forward to the first substantial snowfall here. I love the quiet that a good storm brings. Some time in the evening is when it all started to really stick and accrue. I couldn’t help but to go out and play for a while. Advantageously, our street is really devoid of folks driving on it and is most definitely too narrow to get a plow down it, so we got the dogs out and started to frolic in earnest.  The dogs went crazy! It was little Batter’s first time in it ever. When the dogs got a bit tired and wanted to get back inside I decided to grab my bike and take a little ride around the neighborhood.

It’s such a great time to ride. Most people driving are going really slow, and are more or less helpless. Lots of folks were out just walking around or futilely shoveling for their ease of getting out the door in the following morning. I will say it’s a pretty benevolent time to be out riding around. Not to mention how fun it is to lay the bike sideways, skidding around every corner.

The next day, however, is dramatically different. Nothing gold can stay. As aformentioned, our street will never see a plow, salt, or sand, but that lays no comparison to the streets a bit more at large. Upon getting to the end of my street that morning, I was greeted roadways of browned and rapidly melting slush. Such is the way, but I still hate it. For one, with the sides of the streets lined with heaps of snow from plowing, there is little room for passing traffic. Drivers of cars, a little less helpless than the night before, are a little more irritable and just want you out of the way. They’re also a bit more reckless, drawing too deeply from that felling of marginally increased ability and tend to lose control or their cars around corners or slide through stop signs and traffic lights pretty often.

Another reason the degradation of once fluffy powder n the streets sucks, and this is kind of embarrasing to say, is that I don’t have a bike outfitted with fenders. Not only that, I don’t have a bike that even has eyelets for them. In the recent past I made due with one of those budget seatpost mounted spatula marketed as a fender or “mudguard”. I have come to abhor those things. They move around, they cover only half the wheel, and, on my bike at least, they sit so high over the rear wheel that water usually gets past it and all over your back still. All this and still nothing to do about the water and what-have-you soaking your feet from the front wheel. So yesterday I went and bought some full cover fenders. I got the Planet Bike kind that just clip to the seat stays and the fork blades. I still needed to make some changes to them as they were going on my track bike that has minimal clearance between the frame and wheels. So I switched the struts from the front fender to the rear and set the shorter front fender over the back wheel so the fender ends at the bridge, but covers the wheel closely, and then chopped the rear fender which now has the struts from the front, and set it so that the front of the fender ends at the fork crown and extends most of the way rearward around the wheel. Pretty full coverage.

Once protected from most elements, at least those on the ground,  I set out to test them out. I felt like a kid with new rainboots, hitting every puddle and snowpile I could find. Shoes stayed dry, as did my hindparts. Mission accomplished.

Now I just have to wait out the snow on the trainer, there’s no heading out on the roads in this state. Oh boy!

 

Weather the Weather February 3, 2009

  Upon getting back from California, I entered into a sewing frenzy. Nathalie and I were trying to get a whole bunch of our stuff made for this punk flea market here in Philly. After a couple of intense days of working, we were able to bring somewhere close to fifty hats, ten pouches, fifteen neck warmers, and a bunch of random bike parts literally to the table.

The event itself was really pretty encouraging. Besides selling a fair amount of our wares, we got to talk to a lot a folks, and if nothing else, assert our presence to a greater base here.

Along those same lines, we have been getting a ton of positive feedback on the stuff that we have sold so far. It makes me really happy that you could actually enjoy and appreciate something that I make.

Anyway, with all that over, I feel I’ve been unpacking and cataloguing memories from my trip to California with Rapha. 752 miles in 7 days for a 49 hour ride week. Suffice to say, there is a lot there to go through. We saw the terrain and landscape completely change in the trip as we traveled roughly north to south. From lush coast and climbing through dense redwood forest, to mountainous pastures giving way to the brambled, brown hills of the Sierras, and finally the scrub and rocky facades of high desert climbs like Angeles Crest and Palomar mountain.  Carey, who pretty much kept us all from losing our minds got some amazing pictures and videos, and they’re up on her Flikr page.

Words are so small given the space that the ride has taken up in me. It would take too many to fill. The gorgeous, aching photos and film that has come from this are probably the best way to really see it.  As a photographer, you pretty much couldn’t miss. It was all that beautiful.  Jeremy also has some great content on the Embrocation blog.

Here the weather is erratic. Yesterday saw me getting out for a couple hours on the bike exploring some new routes; today huge snowflakes are falling with no signs of abatement. After riding in mostly sunny weather on the west coast, getting back on the trainer here is a special kind of torture given to those with only the deepest resign. Damn.

Got some good stuff to look forward to though. Battenkill, the Philly race weekend in early April, and maybe even the Grant’s tomb crit in NYC. Who knows, but I might as well use the fitness I’ve been gaining to an early season advantage, right?

Home Again, Home Again January 5, 2009

   Well, our vacation has come to an end. A sleepy, sleepy end.

Nathalie and I took off in the car loaded with our dogs and some road bikes to visit some southern points to  kick off the new year.

Our first stop was to spend a few days in the town we both recently moved from: Gainesville, Florida. I got to check off things on my admittedly small checklist right away after our arrival. I went up to the shop of my most recent employment, Bikes and More, to drop off a twelve pack of beer. Upon walking in I realized that this place had become pretty much the best shop in town. One, in the fact that it’s an easy place to walk into where you as a customer or browser is timely helped in a calm manner, and two, as far as stock, there is very little need to shop elsewhere.  Paul has really made his shop a do-all place. He has hand picked some of the best folks in town to staff the place, including two of my favorite mechanics in Gainesville: Brian B. and Dave L.. Seeing these two in an environment where they are well taken care of and happy is a great sight indeed. I know first hand that Paul has a fantastic way of employing people by way of giving folks a position of influence. It’s refreshing. Anyway, the place is off the chart.

Paul also lent us a par of mountain bikes so me and Nathalie could hit one of our favorite riding spots, San Felasco. We rode two and a half hours through the dense tangle of live oaks and brambles on sweetly twisting trails. I forget how much I love that kind of riding, fast and constantly turning, pedaling all the while. I rode an old friend’s rigid 29′er and Nathalie rode Paul’s Spooky Darkside. What a sweet ride it was.

The new year found us with old friends in a not too overwhelming party. The kind where if you stay in one place for the night, most of the people you wanted to see will come past. It was also an easy enough time to be be able to actually have a conversation and really catch up. I got to get out on the road bike with Mr. Arena who, along with his partner Jenny, introduced me to playing Wii sports. Much fun was had.

In a trip that couldn’t have gone smoother than if there was actually a plan to adhere to, everything was accomplished in an unhurried time. All food related desires on the list were checked off, usually simultaneously catching up with friends. All riding was perfect. In weather that found me in wondefully comfortable in shorts, base layer, and jersey, I was able to revisit some lime rock roads and the gently meandering country rides I am so fond of. We even got some business done selling a few of our wares to friends who were interested. We also have some business cards coming care of Dru who does NOGO graphics. Cool.

We also split up the return drive with a stop in Atlanta to spend the night with some other friends. Over a wonderful dinner with beer and wine we stayed up late convesing around the table until our eyelids could barely be lifted. The next morning we set out for the drive home, somewhere around a thirteen hour drive.

Now I have to start getting ready for the trip to the west coast.  

Junkyard Race and a Big Merger December 22, 2008

Yesterday I went up further north in the city than I have ever previously ridden. Accompanied by Nathalie and a good friend from Boston, Mr. David Wilcox, I traversed the city in it’s miserable state of rain and it’s icy streets. On a typical day such as this, I would hardly dare to venture out of my house let alone my block. But this was no typical day; the day was the blockbuster event of Bilenky Cycle Works’ Urban Cyclocross Race held in an adjacent junkyard.  A wondrous, if chemically poisoned time was had and the course was super fun. Spotted with deep mud and puddles filled with anyone’s guess of toxic levels the course meandered through the junk piles weaving in and out of wrecked cars, railroad ties and tracks, and the hulls of other seemingly ancient and unrecognizable machinery. Fifty or more folks made their way out of doors on such an awful day to “compete” and even more to spectate, drink, or heckle. Most folks actually struck up an easy balance between all aforementioned activities.  No one got too hurt and I’d say most everyone came out of Bilenky with a pretty complete smile on their face.

I made third place in my race which was one of two heats, but declined to race the playoffs. I handed my number over to Lenore who seemed reluctant but eager to get on the course again. It was all so hilarious and everything I wore pretty much got thrown in a plastic bag while I am trying to decide whether to wash it all, or incinerate it all.

In other news, I guess the NY Times must not have gotten my press release, but here in Philly a merger of fantastical proportions was reached. All of the apparel made by myself or Nathalie will be sold under the Camp Cupboard name. To prove it to you, you can see for yourself at: Campcupboard.bigcartel.com. Check it out. It’s our online store. Thanks to Brian at Circle A who helped me out with finding a decent host for the store. You can check out the Circle A Cycles store HERE.

What else? Oh Yeah! Check out the write up and all the Photos from the last two rides Rapha Continental did on the east coast. They both were in Maine. The photos are gorgeous enough to make folks weep. To check those out, Click Here.