Dan Action

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.

Light Fuse and Get Away October 20, 2008

Fireworks had always held a touch of mischievous intrigue for me. Not a bit lessened by the moment of anxious waiting between when a fuse catches and the gunpowder takes effect. It happens so fast, but not too fast, so you’re waiting in one of those slow and charged moments. And then there’s the charge itself, though not as destructive as you really want it to be given the tension you feel by lighting one.
A similar parable could be found in this past weekend’s cross race: Wissahickon Cross. The area’s premiere UCI racing double header. Many folks from Boston came down and in that group were a number of my teammates. It was great to catch up and even host some good friends at my house, complete with a nice night out on the town.
But to continue my metaphor, I will get right down to the ever so short details of my race, the entire reason to show my face at some vacant horse trainng facility in somewhere Pennsylvania.
I can tell you this: one lap, two crashes, no more race.
I got a shitty start since I was left at the alter waiting for a call-up. Apparently MAC points don’t neccessitate any kind of decent stasting position here in the country. I waited, perhaps vainly, to hear my name be called and probably mangled as most people tend to either trip their way over a semi-french pronounciation or garble something out in “plain English” that bears no resemblance to the phonetic sound of my name. As I waited, everyone else must’ve gotten over themseves and lined up, leaving me to inch in to a smal nook in the back. HHmph. The start was dusty and pretty scetchy, but I tried to gain some ground. It was hard to see exactly where the course was going through the dust. I took a good run through a bottle-necked section and made up some places, sat behind someone through a few turns, then decided it was time to move up. I tried t do so on a sweeping turn, but the rider I was to pass was non-plussed about my move and wanted to move me over. I was in a pretty decent veer and the effort to try to still get around my blocking colleague saw me tumbling to the ground at a rapid speed. Dismayed, I rose and hit various parts of my bike to a semblance of straight, and proceeded to hit the gas again. Hit it I did, up the barriers, and back on the bike pedaling like crazy. I felt a mixture of over confidence and who-the-fuck-cares going into a certain section it would be wise to take caution on and went into it way too hot. Down I went. Pretty hard too, My elbow dug into my ribs as I landed, winding me, and my neck stiffened up as I tried to take stock of the situation. I decided to pick up the bike and try to get on even with my brain sounding sort of an alarm not to do so, but alas, a section of my tire unseated in the crash, there would be no riding on it. And feeling the pain start to give me a decent nausea, there was not to be any running to the pit. Game Over.
In all that tension wound in that first 2/3 lap, I feel a bit robbed to not have let it out in the race, instead I feel diminished. I guess that’s what is going to get me out to the next race, and put me on form.

I’ve Been To The Races Too. October 6, 2008

I will tell more of these stories starting from a fresh keyboard which is destined to be under my fingertips tomorrow morning, but for now I will let all who are interested know that I still do race cyclocross and still, I enjoy it like I enjoy nothing else.

Charm City is another name for Baltimore. The act of charming people is probably devious the way that I think of it, which is sort of like hypnotizing someone, or maybe like one would charm a snake. Either way, I call it dubious. If I seemed entranced at this race of the same title, it was because I was at it from way too early to probably way too late. Lenore can attest to it as well. The race went ok for me, being the first race and all. I had a good start and went onto the course in the top ten or so. I found the right lines and quickly gained ground. You can probably read a decent re-cap on the results page from the race, or wherever else you see something about Charm City cx race posted. I got a good mentioning in the write up. Though, not mentioned was the reason I fell from the fight for 3rd. Like a dumb dumb, I put my head to to wallow in pain for a second, or to make sure my shoes were still on, which ever you prefer, and set my front wheel in a big hole. That shook me up and in the couple of seconds it took for me to make the mental check to be sure I wasn’t going down or I didn’t hurt my beautiful new bike, Steve and Andy attacked. All I could counter with was holding the gap where it was and riding parallel. Too bad. But fifth is not too awful, I enjoyed the podium low point just fine and still walked off with some change it the ol’ pocket.

Hillbilly Hustle. I got an awful start due to my slowish reaction time to the start whistle. The official made no attempt at a countdown and as soon as “on my whistle” was said, it blew, then I bewilderdly tried to reach my pedals. I went into the woods 12 wheel or so on a course that bottlenecked fast and got all single-file like. I made some dicey moves and some less risky to get up as many wheels as I could see, which found me riding with Rickey from the Exodus team, then followed by 15 yr. old phenom., Jeff B. The two of the were eager to attack and since there was no one to be seen ahead or behind I let them get in front of me. I mean, there was six laps to go still, so I just trailed them and I knew they weren’t riding a ot of the course that well, waited for them to make mistakes and attack then, when I knew I could gap them good. My chances came when Rickey got wrapped up in the tape in the slow and soft “S” turn, and then one more time when Jeff clipped a barrier and went down. I got around no problem and then all the voices in my head were ATTACk!!!! So I did, and held the two of them off to take third for the day. The race was well done and the course was killer. Lost of fast turning without hitting the brakes. The file tread Challenge tubulars loved the course. On the way home Nathalie and I hit up an orchard stand and picked up a huge jug of cider and a big bag of Empire apples. The past few nights I’ve been making baked apples. It makes our house seem all seasonal and warm.

Photo form Democats.com

Overtime!!!! September 3, 2008

Wow, it’s the first time I have gotten to sit down to write in a while. So much isgoing on, as usual.

Listening to Herbie Hancock’s “Hang Up Your Hang Ups” right now. Getting me psyched for the rest of this day which includes finishing a pair of bib shorts I started the other evening, and going to the first CX training race tonight. Oh man, I can feel it coming.

Last week I went up to a little dirt crit/ oval track training ride with my co-worker Woody. Not knowing what exactly to expect, we were pleasantly surprised to find a maybe 1/8 mile track beat into the grass of a park with a bunch of folks, both A and B groups tearing around it to the tune of Track events. I got into a miss and out race and a scratch race. It was totally fun. Equally as entertaining was sitting in the park til way after dark having a few beers with some of the folks and shooting the shit.  The evening left me and Woody cruising the bike path towards home drinking one for the road. Nice.

So I am perfecting a pattern I made for bib short uppers, while truly getting a handle of  the shorts themselves. This pair features Eco-wool inner panels which has 40% or so 4 way stretch. and Pro cool side panels, rear end and uppers. Now that I personally have 3 machines, bringing me and Nathalie’s collection up to six (two sergers, two regular machines, one coverstitch, and one embroidery/ sewing machine), I have the luxury of leaving one or two machines set up for certain functions. Makes everything faster and pro.   I’ll get some pictures tonight and post them. I think you’ll be decently impressed.

Whenever I get to sewing, I invariably remember my mother. Imean, I think of her all the time, but sewing was her passion, and that has tranferred to me in an enlightening way. I find it the best way to sort of meditate on her, still finding so much appreciation in her breadth of knowledge and her gift of teaching all that she knew in such a patient and easy manner.

Nathalie and I went and spent a weekend in western Mass for the ride known as D2R2, or the Deerfield Dirt Road Randonee’.  It was a 115 mile, 15,000 feet of climbing ride that took place on 70% dirt roads that rambled from western Mass up into Vermont then back down. This was the only organized group ride that the Rapha squad was doing this year, and one I looked so forward to.  So many unexpected familiar faces were there. Matt R., D. Wilcox, A, J.B., P & N Gengler, and more. The ride was the most gorgeous ride I have ever done. Matt had said the promoter had take 10 years or so to string it all together, and I believe it. Cars and other traffic were a rare sight, as was pavement in general, and the roads, if you can call some of them that, went from nice hardpack to washout central to straight up jeep tracks over rock and rut.

It was the kind of ride where you are climbing so much you forget that you are climbing. So many times kicking the pedals over trudging uphill for so long and over and over, mostly seated mind you, that your brain forgets that the terrain is steep and malleable.  The first half we rode, a lot of the time, together. I dropped a bottle on the first good dirt descent, and rather than litter up the place, Brendan Dee’s voice going off in my head, I went back up the climb to retrieve it.  Happily riding back I found Nathalie and Aaron Suko riding along after making a rough wrong turn, and rode with them for a bit til I passed a couple of throngs of people on a climb, looking for my Rapha-mates. Pierre waited up a bit for me and we rode, a bit awestruck, together til the first check point. I was feeling good, but afraid to push it and crack myself. More and even more climbing later, we headed into the lunch spot. Not wanting to let the legs sit too long, I left with Matt & Dave W. and what I thought was the rest of the crew, but not. The three of us soft pedaled in hopes that they’d be coming up right behind us, but they were not. The three of us, along with various others who we caught up with rode together well. It was nice catching up with the two of them. In the relative quiet of those back roads, we could actually talk to each other, even ride three abreast. Rad. Everyone’s demeanor was wonderful, as if the challenge inherent in the ride was a great neutralizer, and the peace of the surroundings let people smile more and chat. One guy, a pretty fantastic chap, John Bayley, was nice enough to talk to me all the way up the last climb; a 25% grade monster that went from paved to dirt to absolute shit. I was gasping and this guy was cruising along chatting me up all the way. I was pretty impressed. Did I mention I did this ride in the Rapha bike? 53-39 gearing with an 11-26 on the back and 25mm tires? I did. The old Igleheart wanted more climbing and dirty descending. It ate it up.

Towards the end I couldn’t believe I still felt all right. Down a paticularly heads up descent, trying to follow David’s wheel as best as I could (He can ride.), we hit the last few miles of pavement and I could do nothing less than drill it straight for the finish.

My ride time was 7hr, 45 min with all the back tracking I did, and elapsed time was a bit over 8hrs I’m guessing. I  can’t wait for next year. This ride is going to be a perennial one for me. Keep up the great work!!!

In other news, I have a new CX frame on the way from the nothing short of amazing friends at Circle A. I am merging the Men’s Elite Circle A team, comprised of: myself, onto the Embrocation team. This will be super rad, taking a lot of the autonomous aspects of the rapha team into the idea for a cross team. Look out for us. I am so glad Circle A is a willing participant in the team, but ever more gracious for them being such an incredible support for my racing and riding in general, and my life. Not only do they make some of the finest frames in the world, they are also unsurpassed sweethearts and scholars.  Time to go ride mine now. Thanks for being patient.

So much to say… July 27, 2008

… This summer has already been on of life-changing proportions. What with the move to Philly, starting a new job, living with Nathalie and our two dogs, it seems so different when I stop and think of it. But honestly, not too much. I hardly ever live somewhere for more than a few years, and have been a part of so many households so widely varying, it hardly seems like a change of pace. I always tend to do more or less the same things wherever I am so in a way,even through the changing scenery, company of friends, and geographic location, I have to say my life still has an air of consistency. I mean, wherever I am I tend to ride the bike, eat the food, and have some decent beer.

Furthering my feelings of being extremely new to this town, I have decided to take a new job. Who wants to feel settled? I will soon be working at the prestigious Cadence Cycling and Multi-sport Center of Philadelphia. I am truly excited about this prospect. If only to be working in service again. B. Therapy is a phenomenal shop, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m awful tired of working the sales floor. I just feel slightly under utilized at times not getting to work on bikes.

It’s not often that I write at all about equipment here on this site, but I’ve been gearing up a bit for the upcoming cross season, and I feel like talking about it.

Crank Bros. pedals work so well for me. I have ridden them in cross for 2 years now with no issues, and now, as they are a sponsor of the Rapha team as well, I ride their road pedals too. I have to say they always feel right. I am thinking about changing over from candy’s to egg beaters for CX, but who knows. Whatever I end up with I am happy. Their support of the Circle A team has been awesome.

I got some Challenge Grifo XS tubulars the other day, they’re stretching now, but I can’t wait to ride them. The consistency of the tread is impeccable, and they feel so soft!! I could use these thing as pillows or toilet seat doughnuts if I so desired.

I may get to test out some of the new Dura-ace wheels this year. The scandium tubeless ones. Hutchinson is making two tread patterns available this year to run tubeless. One file tread, one real knobby. The only thing I think may hinder the tires is they only come in 34’s. That’s pretty wide, but if they ride well, then that’s awesome. Shimano Super Rep. Matt Hagen has made an aside comment to let me race, “ahem”, field test his demo set of wheels, which I will gladly help out with. Other than that, I also started talks with Brian at Circle A about a new frame. I am going into my 3rd season on the first frame, with minimal damage. That’s astounding seeing as how I love to take this bike on any trail, rock garden, downhill course I can find. What a stellar ride. What stellar folks.

Less often than I write about equipment, I omit many things ongoing in my personal life from here, but I am incredibly saddened to say that my Mother, Janice Walsh, has passed away this weekend. She had a very brief and horrible bout with cancer that lasted four months or so. It was incredibly virulent and was not receded by chemo whatsoever. She was still very young. Many of the folks that read here are probably familiar with her in some way. She was always an excited face at many cross races and was eager to travel to them and supported me and my racing in many ways that I can’t quantify. She was a gracious host to many, and took much interest in my friends in a way that was completely genuine. She died yesterday, which was my birthday.

Getting faster? July 8, 2008

I ask the question in a twofold manner. Is the cosmos celestially changing? Is time moving faster? September will be biting on my heels soon, and before I can say “Three more laps!?” with excited , I will be lining up, maybe even called up to the line at the start of another race.

Which brings me to the other side of my original and pointed question; Am I getting faster? Will I be able to be a stronger racer than the one I was last year? I am pretty sure I will be, but the question always lingers. With last year’s season under my belt alone, I think I will do better, seen as the tactic of “racing yourself into shape”. But I went backwards as the end of the season drew closer. I also have to mention that my living and working situation were as such that they worked against me. This season, like all the rest, will be brand new. I will try out another formula to stay ahead and keep my form through ‘cross season.

The Rapha squad did a great loop around eastern MA. the other weekend making Walden pond a focal point of the ride.  As some know, the riding around those parts would have to be exaggerated a bit to be called “epic” even at just over one hundred miles. So even though the operative word of the team may be the “e” word, I prefer to think of the ride by another alliteritive term: essential. Maybe I think of the ride that way because all the roads are so familiar to me, bending and rolling almost aimlessly, or because the scenery of deciduous forests amd colonial buildings recall many memories. If only as the amount of other riders out on the road as we rode as an indicator, we needed to ride this route. Haters stay home.

I managed to negotiate my work schedule that week and stay away from home fr a few days. In a whirlwind of public transport and my sister, I was able to swing down to Worcester, after returning to Boston on our ride, and make it to the Go-Go anniversary party and catch up a bit over drinks and then breakfast. I then rode uphill all the way to my dad’s house and got to spend some QT with him and my stepmom, with my sister arriving shortly after with my brother-in-law and their six kids in tow. I spent the night there and departed the next day with sis and the gang to my mom’s house in CT. It was nice catching up with so much family, sometimes I get used to the rarity of our visits, but when we do get together, I so enjoy the times. I spent the night there and took the train into NY, got some coffee at Cadence NYC, and then made my bus in Chinatown departing for Philly. I got home, said Hi to the mutts, walked them and got back on the bike for the Drives ride: the fast, fast group ride here. Whew.

Stay tuned for some possible actually interesting news regarding my employment. I am in a pickle to say the least.

photo by Daniel Sharp.

Caught out June 18, 2008

  Got out for a ride on the ‘cross bike today after spending an hour or so trying to get to somewhere in Jersey. That place is where decent driving directions go to get slaughtered. I got caught out on the trail when the rain came. I origionally put myself under a bridge when the rain first started. Smart. I got a bit cocky as it lessened and headed out once again only to get dumped on.  Everything on the trail got real slick, and on the CX bike, that’s not my favorite, not to mention I got real cold. I headed in.

Mornings have still been my jam. Getting a few hours on the bike before work, but also riding early on the days off, giving me a whole day to do whatever. It feels so good,  plus it makes my naps that much sweeter.

I have been taking out some of the demo mountain bikes from the shop lately. Namely an Orbea Lanza 29′er, and an FSR expert 26′er. Both have there merits. I have not ridden trails on a 29′er before last week, and I have to say, I’m psyched about it. I always thought of them as being a bit unwieldy, but I was wrong. It was so fast and agile. I chased my friend Lee all over the woods and had a blast.  The Stumpjumper as also pretty stellar. It climbs like no other full suspension I’ve extensively ridden which kind of blew me away. With 120mm travel, it handles all the rocks and crap really well, but I found the bottom of the suspension right around the same time as i found the dirt jumps at the local trails. The bike definitely took the hits, but didn’t really like it too much.  So to give it a break I was checking out Spec.’s specials page during a slow time at work and happened upon a freeride hardtail they were blowing out. It’s pretty much just like my last one, which was a Santa Cruz chameleon but with better brakes.  It was cheap, and I am excited. I will get it tomorrow, so Friday morning hopefully I will see those jumps again.

Where have I been? June 3, 2008

The answer to that question has many sides and as many asides. I will try to cover a good amount of ground here.

Let’s see, on the home front things are truly spectacular. Two dogs now playfully reside in the house. Work is getting to be a really comfortable place. It is completely full of great folks, I don’t even mind, and in fact, aim to get in early every work day if only to shoot the BS over a cup of coffee with everyone. Not to mention all the help and advice I’ve gleaned from them over minute details of the city. The likes of which make it easier to find the genuinely wonderful things in the city.

“What things could this be?” you may wonder. Well I’ll let you in on some of them.

One- John’s water ice. Folks down here refer to Italian Ice simply as water ice. This place is the tops, and I don’t say that just because it’s 4 blocks from my house. They also make their own ice cream. The mixture of their chocolate ice cream and the cherry water ice sends me to dreamland.

Two- It is not as easy as other places I’ve lived to buy beer here. Seemingly very few stores are allowed to sell. You either buy your beer as a 6-pack to go from a bar or go to the local deli or pizzeria to get some. Both of these, I may add, a re usually exceedingly expensive. Taxes on booze are high, as is public demand, therefore dumb, dumb beer prices. Though if you are of more quantitative thinking, you can also buy cases at a beer distributor. Prices vary pretty wildly, and you can not walk out with anything less than 24 beers.

Three- Travel to NY. There are a myriad of ways open to the auto-less Philadelphian to get themselver to Ney York. There is a series of two commuter rails that are scheduled in tandem to get you ther in 2 to 2 1/2 hours. There is also a few different bus companies that run from Chinatown Philly to Chinatown in New York. Each is usually $20 round trip, $12 one way. These buses haul ass and will have you on Canal st. in under 2hrs.

This is the tip of the iceberg as far as the helpful things my friends and co-workers have imparted on me. It works out great.

Riding has been going well. On the Rapha side of things, we all got our new bikes!!! I am riding a Chris Igleheart. It feels amazing!! The other fine folks that made frames for the team of guys were Bilenky, Independent Fabrications, Circle A Cycles (yahoo!) , and Richard Sachs. What a line up. The day after getting them we gave them a 100 mile whirl around the constantly undulating terrain of north-central Massachusetts. Departing from Fitchburg, we plodded north to touch down a little in NH, then returned south and completed the loop just after climbing the mount Wachusett summit. Kind of my old stomping grounds. We made sure to get some good photos, and to stop a lot to make adjustments on our one day old bikes.

Riding here in Philly has been pretty good, and I’m happy to say I’m finally back on a way more consistent schedule. I have actually been getting up to ride before work on most days, starting rodes at 7a.m., and usually going out for a good 2 to 2 1/2 hrs. It’s so much easier when there are people you agreed to meet. Days off, like today I usually do the morning ride, then try to squeeze in a second ride towards the evening. Cross season is beginning to pick at my mind. I need to be in killer shape by the end of September.

I have borrowed the demo Spec. FSR full suspension ride from the shop a few times and gotten out to the trails. There is some super fun riding out here, about four or five miles from the house. I love riding rocky, swoopy trails. The Wissahickon has got them everywhere. Not to mention a couple of long, gross climbs, and some nicely sculpted obstacles and berms. Fast!!!

That’s it for now. I’ll try and scare up a few pictures. Internet here at the house is more or less donated anonomously and sort of cuts in or out frequently, so that is no help for me trying to relieve the absentee-ism from my blog. Thanks.

Tuesday Tuesday February 5, 2008

2008 has seen the passing of two great names in cycling already. Namely, Mr. Thomson and Mr. Sheldon Brown.

Being from New England, I always knew of Sheldon Brown as being a regional celebrity in cycling circles. Only in the past 5 or 6 years did I start to realize how prolific the man really was, and what a deep mark he made in cycling. How many people ignited their spark of passion by immersing themselves in Sheldon’s online maze of gearing charts, 3speeds, all that is fixed gear, and general lore? How many more simply indulged themselves in the tomes of information put forth by a man who tirelessly worked and researched, but also continued to learn and adapt to new technologies and faces of the industries, therefore maintaining a trait few folks do that have been around as long, that of relevancy. He had a fantastic run here; it was one that touched many, many people.

I had never met Mr. Thomson, though I hope it dosen’t sound too cheesy or shallow when I say I have, like millions more, I have thoroughly enjoyed riding the products he designed and manufactured. I have a deep appreciation for both the model of business he operated, and the quality worksmanship his posts and stems were manufactured to. He seemed like a real decent man.
In other news, the Gainesville Downtown crit is this weekend. There is also a time trial on Saturday, but I am opting out of that one since I work all day. I am as excited to race as I am to just enjoy being at the races. I will get to watch my friend Mike Arena race his first big crit, and also check out Nick M. from Boston race his race. The course pretty much orbits a great park downtown, so watching in easy and enjoyable.

There is one thing I’m a bit amiss about. Here they are requiring racers to rent or buy a timing chip for your race. You can buy one for roughly $100 or you can rent them for $10 per race, with a $90 deposit or your credit card number.

They used the chip system at the two ‘cross races here too, though no deposit or rental fee was needed, just your U.S.A. Cycling license # and your I.D. At a cross race though, if you need to change bikes, it means you’d have to wear your chip on your person, and if it came down to a sprint, it is not your front wheel that is being recorded, it somewhere toward the center of the bike. I also noticed the lack of cameras at the line as well. And to tiop it off, no posted results in two weeks! If the computer timing system is so great and efficient, where are the results?

So buy a chip for a hundred or rent them by the race for ten bucks. How come in New England- road, cross, whatever- with a couple cameras on the line and fields of nearly a hundred riders, they can get it right? Is it because outfits like J.D.’s Pioneer Productions are so superior? That may well be the case, but in any event, making racers pay more money to race with the incentive of more detailed data (lap times, etc.) just seems bunk to me. It’s as lame as unattached rider fees. It seems to me that if this is going to be a mandatory piece of equipment, the promoters are setting the bar, therefore the burden of running the new system should be on them. Especially when the tried and true way of watching the line, having a couple of cameras, and cataloging finishing riders seems to work pretty well. The way they did it at the ‘cross races in Largo seemed well done, if just not that congruent to cyclocross, seemed to work well. No one waked off with their chip, and if someone might have, the promoters have the person’s name and information. Who knows?

Well the fancy and triumphant sounds of Ratatat are getting me pumped to get on with my day here. I’m psyched to eat then get out for me and Mike’s Tuesday tempo + ride. Oh for the record, I’ve put on a bit more weight, putting me up to right about 150lbs. Yeah, eat right!!!!