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.

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

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?

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.

Photos, etc. December 17, 2008

  Well, I am getting pretty used to my new schedule now that things have calmed down a bit. I ended up super sick as a toll of last weekend’s intensity. I was bed ridden for two days. I wanted to get a few photos up here from the last race.

Also getting ready for some fun times traveling. Nathalie and I are heading for points south around the turn of the new year. We’ll be hitting up ever-familiar Gainesville for a few days. I hope to get a chance to do some quality riding down there, hopefully with the likes of a Mr. Mike Arena. I’m having a hard time deciding which bike to bring down though. It will probably come down to my Rapha Igleheart since that’s the bike I’ll be needing for my next trip. A few days after returning from Fl./Ga. I am flying out to Portland OR and heading out with the Rapha folks to basically do a pre-ride of the Tour of California. This is going to be pretty rad as well as super hard. Don’t have all the details yet, but as soon as I do I’ll pass the fun ones along here.

D2R2 is up on the Rapha Continental site now, with the Maine rides hopefully appearing soon. Chris Milliman shot D2R2, and man are those photos incredible! He seriously is at the top of the food chain. I truly love his work.

Embrocation 2.5 is being released tonight at a bar in Cambridge (our fair city), if you’re in the area, check it out. If not, Pick an issue up, you’ll be pretty psyched you did.

As far as making apparel, I am, as previously mentioned, getting used to a new routine. I plan on having a bunch of stuff ready to order soon. Mostly the wool baselayers, because that’s what I would want most at this time of year. I will also get some photos of the stuff up in a day or so. It did feel good to send out that first order though.

 

   

What a Week!!! December 13, 2008

Last Friday, pretty early in the morning, I found my way downtown to the Chinatown bus to New York. I stopped in the city for a bit to have some coffee and chat it up with a certain pair or team mates, Kansas W. and Filthy Rich Bravo. We just hung out at the Cadence cafe and yukked it up for a bit before I departed for another bus to Boston.

I was heading up to New England for the last two races of my season (if you can call what I had a definitive season). The NBX UCI weekend in Rhode Island.  I love these two races and have made it a point to make it to them every year. It’s kind of like racing in front of the hometown crowd. Now, before you might get the idea that I was going up there with my game face on, let me assure you that in the weeks leading up to this I have barely gotten any riding in, let alone actual training. Also, the trip was kind of set up to me multi-purpose as I wanted to get to spend some time with Jeremy and talk about Embrocation Cycling Journal with regards of finding my way into a role in it’s production, and one of the best friends I’ve been lucky to have known close to ten years, whom I lived my duration of time in Providence with, Mike Taylor was to have a going away party as he is departing for points much further south. So let’s just go right ahead and admit that this was to be a pretty social weekend with a little racing thrown in just to keep the teeth white.

Traveling by bus to a race is a pretty great thing. It simplifies schedules by the nature of actually having a schedule and it allows me to travel by myself easily. Since I am with without a license to drive, solo travel becomes difficult. The one drawback is that carrying a surplus of equipment becomes impossible. So there I was with the cross bike, a set of carbon boobular wheels on it, a can of Pit-Stop or two, and that was about it. My backpack was so overstuffed with clothing and the like to prepare for a myriad of weather conditions that I couldn’t fit any more even if I wanted to.  So that pretty much left me gallavanting about around New York, Boston, and Providence praying for clean streets and no flats. Surprisingly, I made it through.

I got to Boston and rode over to Cambridge Bike to meet Jeremy, we promptly got to a bar for dinner and drinks, a few excellent folks came to meet up there and laughs were had. Somehow both Jeremy and I thought it might be a good, or at least fun idea to go to a college party where we knew no one but everyone else knew each other. People kept asking us in drunken slurring drawls “Who here do you know? Do I know you”. Good times, not awkward at all. We were definitely the old heads there. It was pretty funny. We got back to Jeremy’s place in Somerville at a stunning 4 a.m. only to rise in a couple hours to depart for the race. Hoo boy. I tried to shake all the crappy-ness from my body, but even at the best I felt, there was nothing in the legs. My race was awful. The start was ok, but after a lap or two I started cramping pretty bad. I bridged a couple of good gaps on the road sections, bringing my teammates with me, but soon the cramps were holding both sides of my abdomen hostage and the ransom was to slow down. I don’t deal with terrorists, so I held out. Then the throwing up started. Swwweeeet. I didn’t get last place, but I sure felt it. In contrast the team mates, known here as the three-Pete, had great races.

That night was not designed to be a recovery night either. Dinner led to a bike shop party, then to Mike T’s departing soiree’.  This was a weekend highlight. One, because it was a classic party. Two, because it had been a long time since spending a night with a number of folks it feels like I used to spend pretty much every night with. And Three, because Some of my other friends: Jeremy, Pete B., Craig, and others were there and having a good time, seemingly comfortable and revelling. It is such a nice thing for me to see newer friends or two different groups of friends (in this case my “bike world” friends and my “hometown” friends) get together and hit it off. It only goes to show that I have good taste in the people I choose to associate with. I am just attracted to good people, plain and simple.

This night ended with a visit to the classic Olneyville System, where I was able to introduce Jeremy and Peter to Hot Weiners, a food only legal to sell in Rhode Island and one other state. Which one it is escapes me. We got to my friend Yvette’s house at the decent hour of 3:30 a.m. and promptly hit the deck.

Sunday morning was a bit easier on the body that Saturday was. Yvette and Michael made us some killer oatmeal and way intense smoothies that made all right with the body, or at least as much as can be right with the strain I was putting on it throughout the weekend. We got to the race to find a snowy, twistier course. Much more to my liking than the day before, and I set out to get a decent warm up. God knows I needed it; it was so cold. Jeremy, Cary, and Dave Wilcox put it an excellent race. J taking 3rd and 3rd in the overall series, with Both Cary and Dave W. making it into the top ten.

I felt a lot better in my race, at least in the fact that I wasn’t throwing up. My result dosen’t do much to prove my better condition,  but I was plenty happy. When endevoring in a weekend such as this, one has to choose between enjoying spectacular friendships and celebrating them, or racing up to my full potential. I feel I’ve done plenty of brushing aside some quality time with folks I treasure to be all serious and duly prepared. Given this abbreviated season of mine, this is no nail in the coffin. If anything, I will come out next year with something to prove. I had a great time, made enough money in the payout to cover one day of racing, and re-solidified some important relationships.  What more can one want in a four day trip? All that and no flats.

This Machine Does Not Work December 3, 2008

   I am in the elated throes of a newfound Funemployment. Huzzah!!

I decided that as amazing as Cadence is, it’s a bit more of a commitment that I’m able to make at the moment. I’d like to take a moment here and express my gratitude towards them for having me there. I can’t say this is the definitive end of my face darkening their doorway, but taking an extended break from work does very much rule.

it’s been a while. You may think that by constantly shifting residencies up and down the East Coast (unicoastal) that would leave ample time for unemployment. Not so! The financial drain of moving twice in one year tends to tap out any meager savings I might have accrued in the former place of my nesting. The first order of business in a move is to secure some work. Luckily, since I have been moving between two pretty familiar places, finding the work has not been too much of an issue. The only drawback that it dosen’t leave much time to stretch out the way one does with the onset of a good spell of ot working.

What will I do with all that time, you may ask. Well, as in any other spell of abundant free time on my hands since I was 23 or so, I will be riding my bikes a whole bunch more. No less than any others, I will spend some quality time on my newest ride, a sweet 5 inch full suspension mountain bike that came down the pipeline from Mr. “tight jam” Stevens. I figure wrestling a 30lbs. bike for three hours at a time will get me faster when I get on the light bikes. I will also be doing some traveling. First up will be a trip up to my two favorite cross races: NBX Grand Prix and Steadman’s in Rhode Island. Not to mention, It’s a good chance to get some hang out time in Providence.  After that, I will be packing up the dogs and bikes with Nathalie and we’ll be heading south for the coming of the New Year.

let’s talk a moment about some machines that DO work. By this I mean my sewing machines. They work phenomenally. In fact, they work so well as to make some excellent hats and base layers when teamed up with my patterns. I will be trying to sell some of my wares this weekend and beyond. This latest batch of hats have been made with alternating panels of Pro-cool, a Malden Mills fabric not unlike DuPont’s Coolmax, and a wool blend, reminiscent of Sportwool. These hats will be $20. Fully constructed of wool, they will be a bit more, as material costs go up. Base layers are different weights of Pro-cool, short sleeve. $20 as well. I also have a lot of Merino wool in stock currently. Merino baselayers will be $40. Pictures up soon.  See you at the races!!!

Beaten at Beacon November 12, 2008

Well, let me start with saying that I am glad to have the first, or any, sloppy race under the belt and over with.

That said, I got a lousy start being over geared and not having a ton of traction on the wet, uphill, paved climb. But whatever, as long as the group can stay together, it’s not too big of a deal. Going into the soft, deep sand, my front wheel dug in good. Others did as well and I got a bit tangled with some other riders. I  got out of the sand and the bike felt really heavy and hard to pedal for some reason or another. I let it go and chalked it up to being sandy and muddy and what not until the top of a dirt climb where never mind it being hard to pedal, I couldn’t even coast. Here I took my mind off of where I was in the race and put a little attention on the bike. My front wheel was pressed against the fork and brake. That would definitely keep the speed down. It was here that I pulled off and dismounted to take care of the mechanical issue. It was here that I saw myself going back in the places to last. Dead last.

With the problem fixed, I decided that to give up was lame. I set off to catch whoever I could and use the race to make myself ride the course better. I can always use a muddy and wet race course to work on bringing my riding skills up a notch. And while working on cornering better, running faster, and dropping the gears whenever the course would allow a nice speed surge, I found myself catching rider after rider and eventually moving myself back to 17th place. Sure I was still a bit disappointed, but I was satisfied that I rode the course well.  And let me tell you the course was worth riding. It was so fun and well laid out.  My sense of direction was completely boggled the entire race what with all the twists and turns. Kudos to the promoters and designers. I can easily see why this is a race that atracts so many folks to travel.

Fair Hill, Fair Effort November 5, 2008

   Raced at Fair Hill in Maryland on Saturday. Went early in the a.m. with super coach Colin in the  big Cadence van taking all the BMC demo bikes, tents, trainers, and all the other things a sponsor of the MAC series should bring. That is, except a decent tool kit. Oh well.

The day was awesome. The course, just spectactular. It was deftly laid out across the grounds of horse stables and fields. The overall atmosphere was strikingly positive, and the temperature bordered  on being hot.It was great to watch all of the races and ride the course a lot between each of them. It was rad watching Lenore in her first pretty big time elite field. I lent her some wheels that would be excellently suited for the course. She raced well, and found out how limiting it can be to follow the wheels less apt than your own. Good lesson.

It was only a year ago that I was finding the same things out.  I keep kicking myself for not being faster or racing smarter. I think I should occasionally take into consideration that this current season is my third racing ‘cross. Only one of those, the first, was spent in the “B” field. Not to mention, this is only my fourth year racing bikes at all, really. I spent some years just riding the fast group rides in Gainesville, trying to hang on to all the incredibly strong folks there. It wasn’t till maybe 2003 that a friend of mine, Dan P., convinced me to do a mountain bike race with him after I going with him to a couple of his. I did a few, and did well but kind of put it up for a while, till I realized late in the summer of ‘03(?) that I found out about the training races nearby in Lincoln Rhode Island. Living in Providence, it was a six mile ride from the shop I worked at. I did that race every week in the B division and got my upgrade to cat 4 by October. I think I only did those training crits and one real race that was on the same course as the crit for my ten races. I started ‘04 out as a cat 4 and raced the season and ended it with my 3 upgrade. That was with the first inception of the Circle A team, which I look back on fondly. The next season was ended in june for me with a separated shoulder. I took a long tour of New England with M.C. in late July to get my form back. We packed up our bikes and went out for ten days or more travelling over 100 miles each day up the shore and across the mountains. I tried my first cross race that same year on the same bike I toured on. An old lotus from the eighties that Circle A brazed some canti bosses onto. I had an old Mavic Cosmic wheel on the back, some crappy wheel on the front, road cranks, and bar end shifters. I raced at Plymouth. I got 15th in the B’s. I remember Steve Morse blowing past me on the last or second to last lap. I knew he was super strong and raced cross a fair amount, so I didn’t feel too discouraged to be beat by him. That year was the one that I finally met Molly C., and worked the pits at Gloucester for her. That was the year of the freakish snow storm. I remember working the pit and freezing with pretty much everyone else since no one else came prepared for such absurd weather. That was a big eye opener for me. I found the whole scene warm and positive, where the road racing scene was anything but. The next year all I wanted to do was race cross. That’s pretty much where this blog starts from.

Anyway, Fair hill. There were a couple of crashes directly after the prologue that set some gaps out. I tried to chase and chase, and worked with a man named Buckles, who I just couldn’t ride away from and we caught one guy. Then we got caught by Michael Gallegher (sp?) and when he attacked, Buckles went and since I had led the past lap and a half, I was pretty blown to answer the attack. I stayed just a few seconds off Buckles’ wheel, but that was all I could do and ended up tenth. Not horrible, but I guess I really need to start training right to minimize my losses. I really want to stay in the money for all the races from here out, but more than that I think I can better my standings in the Series. Got to hit some goals.