Yeah, I’m nerding out that much. I have a fantasy cycling team via http://road.cc/. I did one for the TDF last year, but this one is the whole season long. I guess I can make transfers between races, which I guess I will in the hopes of staying competitive. But here’s the first team I picked and the one that I will try and go back to when they are all racing. Well most of them anyway. A lot of these are based on very little info, some are based on none at all.
Sammy Sanchez. I think he’s the best rider Euskatel has right now. He’s my GC contender.
Alessandro Petacchi is my sprinter. Trying to pick some Italians since I’ve started learning Italian. Cavendish is probably a smart bet here, but I just don’t like him. Farrar seemed like the lazy choice to me.
Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez. I know nothing about this guy. He’s on Movistar now. I like that Movistar has a team since my friend Sergio used to work for Movistar Chile. He’s my climber.
Lars Boom is one of my all-arounders. CX world champ. Did well last year.
Fabian Cancellara was a no-brainer as my other all-arounder.
Iljo Keisse. I have no idea why I picked this guy. Random Domestique, but if you google search him, you get this great picture.
Ruben Perez Moreno. Euskaltel. that’s the only real reason for domestique #2
Simon Ponzi, last name alone. Ponzi scheme + the stuff you should know podcast pronunciation of the word Ponzi Scheme.
Gatis Smukulis. I’m not a big fan of HTC. No real reason, but I’m not. But based on his name, good old Gatis Smukulis has been named a friend of http://speedmetalpodcast.blogspot.com/ which is (I believe) written by the same guy who does http://www.themetalinquisition.com/ . So basically, good enough for the Skullkrusher, good enough for me.
Now that I have posted this, I’m about to go change my team since a lot of them aren’t listed as starting Gent – Wevelgem. But these are the guys I will keep coming back to…probably.
I found these videos on youtube, there are a ton of them from the Cleveland Hardcore fest in 1995. This was the second really big hardcore fest I went to and it totally skewed my idea of what young people could do for pretty much the rest of my life. The promoters for this show were Randy, Justin and Julie and they got a help from a bunch of folks. It couldn’t have possibly been any more for the kids by the kids. It was in a giant venue, but there wasn’t a lick of anything official about it. I’m pretty sure that Justin and Julie were still in high school at the time; that makes it extra-amazing because I work with young people and I don’t know that many with enough motivation to pull something like this off. We got on the show, not by merit, but pretty much by virtue of being friends with Randy and Justin (I guess things never really change).
I have lots of stories that I tell about this show (because I ramble a lot and tell stories). I think there were two Cleveland fests and this is “the other one”. This is the year before the One Life Crew riot. There were a ton of amazing bands, and finding such a wealth of videos all from the same show is a really good cross section of what was going on at the time.
One other random good one from the weekend. The show was no re-entry. At one point, the nearby Pizza Hut was totally full. It was mostly bands because they were the only ones that could come and go freely. I put on “pour some sugar on me” on the jukebox and every single person at every single table was singing along at the top of their lungs. It probably wasn’t EVERY person a EVERY table, but that’s how I remember it, so I’m sticking to it.
hot water music.
At the time, I think they just had a demo and a 7″ out. We were lucky enough to play with them (also in Cleveland) earlier that year at the Lorain YWCA. I think that most people at the fest didn’t know who they were, and then they just blew everyone away. The first video is from the fest itself, the second video is from the same year but a different show. I included it because seeing them play eating the filler at the fest was hands down the most moving rock and roll moment I have witnessed. long acapella bridge sans microphones, screaming at the top of their lungs while chris (he’s the skinny one right?) was just punching himself in the face and singing at the same time. I’ve seen lots of bands go off and freak out, but this one is up there. Since they weren’t huge yet, not that many people knew the words so you didn’t hear a lot of people singing along. Just a few dudes on stage with no microphones belting it out in a giant auditorium. Not as many people had Lungfish beards back then, but at the end, dude’s beard was just dripping with about 1/4 cup of disgusting phlegm.
jihad:
I loved this band. People disagree with me, but I pretty much think of them as Earth Crisis for kids that didn’t want to admit that they liked Earth Crisis. Listen to all the chugga coming out of those guitars.
los crudos:
I had just gotten back from Chile and I saw that someone had written “Los Crudos” on a bench on the top of a hill in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE. I also at the time had plans to write a zine in Spanish. This was a horrible idea because I had absolutely no connection whatsoever to the audience for that zine. I decided to see if I could interview them for this zine (which I never wrote). I was also a little bit more rocky with my listening comprehension and not accustomed to their accents so we decided to do the interview in English and then I would transcribe it to Spanish (horrible idea). I never did transcribe the recording because it was about 90 minutes (then the tape ran out) of intelligent, but very stream of consciousness political rambling. A few highlights that I do remember:
-”You’re very lucky to be interviewing Los Crudos without Martin. Because if you he’s here, you don’t interview Los Crudos, you just interview Martin.”
-Lenin, the bassist was really drunk…like alcohol poisoning drunk. He spent most of the rolling around back and forth on a bunch of gravel and he would just randomly yell out the last thing that someone else said like a drunk punk hype man. ”Don’t mean sh*t!” and “Kick their *ss!”
anasarca:
I think I had heard them a few times before when my friends would tape record someone’s Pitt radio show and then give me copies. They were really good. I didn’t realize that they were from this area, but at the time, Washington DC and Baltimore were these exotic locations that I had never been to. The funny part about that is that we would regularly drive to Lancaster for shows and DC would have been so much closer.
fifteen:
I never knew that much about them and I was too busy trying to be “hardcore” to pay too much attention to pop punk bands. But I knew that at the time a lot of people thought that they were a big deal so I made a point of watching them. I keep meaning to try and get some fifteen records because I know I would be way more into it now; being “hardcore” is pretty much a lost cause at this point.
still life. At the time, I didn’t care about this band one bit. Now, I think they’re pretty OK.
mandela strike force
some of these dudes went on to be in Ink and Dagger. One of them is not alive anymore. He was funny a lot of the time, sometimes he was just mean. I didn’t really know him very well at all just some back and forth on the straightedge list.
fracture – Featuring Atom without the package.
Franklin: Featuring Ralph, about whom one of the greatest songs of all time was written.
If I get around to it, I might post up the videos I have of Despair from this show on youtube. I have Transit aka Passover videos from this show also, but no need to put that on the youtube.
If you want to know who won what. results are after the cut. They are a little “grey” because we ran into some unintentional discrepancies with course cutting. This is why there are no real prizes, because then I would have to put actual thought into what to do about that stuff.
new band alert. not me, but they don’t have a bassist so maybe if I ask nicely, they’ll want someone who will flake out and never show up to practices and have to cancel shows all the time.
NEW WEAPONS. Not sure if they’ll claim DC or MD. My bet’s MD (are any bands REALLY from DC anymore?).
faraz, shawn and paul. ex members of helsinki/medic/de nada/east liberty/ampersand/haddonfield/bison/and probably a lot of other bands especially on shawn’s end because I know he played in a lot of bands but I can’t remember which ones.
there are 2 videos. one’s hosted on flickr and one’s hosted on vimeo. I can’t make both embed because I keep forgetting how to do it. so click the link for the second one.
My season is done…the argument could be made that it never really started.
This has NOT been a banner season. I think even last year went better than this year and at that point, the kid was tiny and waking up every 3 hours.
Charm city: DFL – cross results says otherwise, but it was DFL.
Granogue: DNF on the last lap. I regret this one because there was no good reason not to finish. I would have been last, but I should have finished.
Hyattsville: almost reverse podium (bottom 6). results out of the equation, this was a good race for me.
DCCX: Next to last, but crossresults and the internet say that I don’t exist.
Kindercross: DNF. mechanical, but I was glad when it happened.
Tacchino: I was DFL, and most definitely IN THE WAY of the field so I went DNF. no regrets.
I thought I had a few more in me but I’m going to call it.
Last year, the HoCo weekend did me in. This year, it wasn’t even an option.
I as in Boston for work this past week. I knew ahead of time and had plans to check out some of the famed New England CX scene. In the end, I didn’t bring a bike up because I was pretty pressed for time. I thought I might regret it, but the weekend was already packed so it was a good call. Not racing also let me get back home to spend the day with the fam after 3 days away.
Nothing really to bring to the table for Taneytown. Cattle Cross is still a maybe since it’s a new race and an interesting format.
I haven’t heard of any Jan/Feb Races so Season 6 is in the books. Now the trick is to find some time to get back into the woods again. Until then, most of my riding will be banging around on my sweet new grocery getter/Johnny Rad’s/Mahaffey’s mobile. But hopefully I can get some dirt under the tires sooner rather than later.
2 groups of folks that I don’t ride with that often: the Bmorefixed crew and the SSOFT gang. The Bmorefixed folks, I mostly see when I manage to make it out to the six pack rides. The SSOFT gang I see at events now and again. Both do some pretty amazing stuff with fixed gear bicycles outside of the riding around the city and look cool. Personally, I only ever manage to ride around the city and look like I’m trying to look cool (ineffectively might I add).
These two bunches of bike nerds manage to do things that I have no intention of ever doing, but enjoy checking out.
Every Sunday, the Bmorefixed folks get together and do tricks on fixed gears. I realize that it’s very fashionable to make fun of that stuff nowadays. It’s not my cup of tea, but I’m the last guy to make fun of people doing stuff that I could never do in a million years.
(picture snatched from Keith’s Flickr) When the fixed gear freestyle stuff was mainly over the handlebar skids, I was not so stoked on it. But the stuff they’re doing now is definitely impressive.
The SSOFT guys, are spread out all over the area, but it seems like home base is Frederick nowadays. I see pictures of the Frederick Watershed and I keep hearing how awesome it is. When I see pictures, it looks totally out of my comfort zone. The lines they ride are the things that I would ride around, and they often ride it fixed. Here’s a video lifted from Ricky of one of their rides.
I’ve taken a crack at fixed MTB. It did not go well. Both are flickr contacts of mine so their updates often show up side by side.
Buonasera! La corsa e fantastica. Sono ciclista della corsa SSCX. Le persone gridano molto. Grazie per questo. Continuare e dificile quando non posso vedere il ciclista davanti a me. I gridi aiutano molto.
Oggi, ho abbandonato aultra competizione. E la seconda, ma il giorno e piacevole perche ho parlato con molti amici, ho bevuto le birre buone. La squadra coppi fa un evento straordinario. Nelo futuro certamente vado a fare questa corsa altra volta!
Well, it’s probably fraught with errors, but that’s what I could pull off. I fought the urge to write the entire thing in the present tense.
Here’s another short video. bits and pieces from B masters, women and elite masters (I think). Music by a long gone Pittsburgh Ska band called the skablins.
It made me laugh that Charm City Velo Records got referenced today by the race announcer as I watched the surly steamroller in front of me drift off into the distance. That was pretty much a failed endeavor. Was going to put out a cd for one guy and he disappeared for a while so it never happened. I put out something for one of my bands, but that doesn’t count. the next release was going to be for a younger band, who broke up by the time we could work out details. The final failed attempt was a bicycle themed comp record to benefit a bicycle helmet giveaway program, by the time I had all the tracks from all the bands, the charity had run its course. In the end, running a small record label out of my basement was not meant to be. So I’m left with this website to write about bike stuff.
Working backwards. Saturday was a fun bike day as well. Fair Hill is another one that I like a lot, but Saturday I was on daddy day care duty so the only way Fair Hill was going to happen would be if I picked a random person to hold the bug while I raced. So instead I headed out to the Bootlegger’s Bliss. I had not been before and it was a really good time. Most went for a legit MTB ride, I took the bug for a ride in a kid trailer and met up for the festivities later.
We left Saturday’s event before things got into the full swing but here’s a video
Loaner bike that was too big and a DNF or not, it was 2 awesome days on the bike.
new race, lots of twisty turns, long sandy section. Best of all, it’s 30 min from the house. Looking forward to doing it next year. good job ABRT.
My race: I flip flopped between the geared bike and the SS. Original plan was to do the 4′s on the SS and the B masters on the geared bike. The thing about having multiple bikes is, you forget when something needs to be done to them. Oh, that hub needs to be adjusted, I guess I’ll ride the other bike. That has a funny way of catching up to you and you need to fix all of your bikes at once. so 2 bikes and they were both partially screwy. The SS was less screwy so it was going to be that one. I flatted after the long sandy section. If I took the innertube out of the untrue front wheel of the other bike and changed it, I would be good for the 10AM race. I had PLENTY of time to do this, but then didn’t have a tire lever. At that point, rather than hunt one down, I threw in the towel, went down, made a short video. talked to a guy about his awesome older bike, and made it home in time to spend the lion’s share of halloween with my wife and a charming little lady dressed as a glow worm.
Rest of the season for me?
Tacchino – my first foray into the B race (the allure of the single speed race)
Shedd Park – I’ll be in MA for work so I guess I get to see how they do it in New England. The bike is also the Boston Transportation, so I will opt for SS as well.
and that looks like that’s it. If the stars line up and it’s convenient, perhaps taneytown.
Bakers Dozen FOlks are putting on the CATTLE CROSS: no USAC, and chip timed!
The proteus race is officially not happening this year, but maybe if we’re lucky, some folks will throw some post season races.
looking at my options for the rest of the year, I think I will finish the year out on the single speed. Now the trick is to remember to do the upkeep on the major jake.
Usually when I try to embed a video, it doesn’t work. But it did today. Here’s a video mish mash of the women’s race, the elite men and the tandem race.
Last week, I started to write something up after Granogue, but it was whiny. Short story of Granogue, I quit when I shouldn’t have. Didn’t go back on Sunday because the bean doesn’t do well sleeping in hotels.
here’s a video of granogue. men’s and women’s C race.
Today, not so whiny. I left it all on the course today. In that regard, this one is a lot like Hyattsville for me. I’m not saying I have a lot to leave on the course. My most memorable ride since Granogue was pulling the bean around in a kiddie trailer. BUT, I went in expecting last place and was pleasantly surprised…by coming in next to last.
Whistle blew and I felt like I was keeping up with the mid-packers up the hill, it wasn’t until I hit the road that I realized that I wasn’t. But I at least fell into a groove with 2 other riders (the lady and the gentleman) just ahead of me. At the end of the first lap, I saw that I could maybe get one on the technical spots and the other on the hills (at least that was my best guess). During the second lap, I pulled ahead of the lady and the gentleman as we hit the last patch of gravel before the drop that I was convinced was going to take my front teeth (it wasn’t really that bad at all, but that hasn’t stopped me from crashing in the past). The lady then made short work of me on the slight hill and she was on my radar until the cobbles, then it was pretty much a losing proposition. The gentleman was pretty much on my heels the whole way until we were passed on the last lap by the leader and some of the folks from the rookie race. If he weren’t, I probably would have lamed out and soft-pedaled my way to last. At least this way, I pushed the whole way. He dropped back a bit and my motivation to keep pushing waned as there was no way I was going to catch the lady. I still managed to keep it up but took it casually across the line to make sure they didn’t get confused and score me with the podium guys who were lapping me near the finish (as if I could be mistaken for a podium guy). I think in the end, I pulled NTDFL (next to) which is infinitely better than my DNF last week. I’m sore all over now, which is nice. The races that bum me out, I’m only sore during the race. The ones where I pat myself on the back for the meager achievement, I’m sore the next day too.
Tandem race was great. I could go on, but I’m sure other people will do so in a much more entertaining manner.
Admittedly for most people, it probably felt like a bike race from the beginning. Hyattsville was today. On paper, the course is pretty boring: pancake flat with lots of twists and turns and a few things to keep it interesting. It’s not much to see for the spectators. That said, I’ve done this race twice now and I think it’s going to be one of my “can’t miss” races. Here’s a really short video from the B race and the Master’s A race. For some reason it won’t embed so you have to be old school and click the link. Music is one of my old bands, because Crosswife brought really old pictures of me playing in bands so we could laugh at me.
How did the B master’s race go for me?
First lap took a long time to string everyone out.
Second lap I was catching my bearings and realizing that catching Sol was probably out of the questions and hoping that I might catch up to the rouleur (I didn’t).
Third lap I finally figured out who I was racing. I had to stay ahead of the mountain bike guy and catch the bike rack guy and see what happened. Cat and mouse with the bike rack guy until I was pretty sure I had him. Caught up to a guy on a Raleigh (Johnny?), followed him for a bit and pulled ahead.
As the leaders were lapping me, bike rack guy was right with them. Eventually he got away and I was still fighting off the Raleigh. He caught up to me on the last straightaway, I was pretty sure I had him then. We both sprinted for the line and whatever the hell place that no one cared about except us. Even after we crossed, I don’t think either of us could tell you who got it.
The thing that I like about this course, is that I feel like I can really gun it (all things being relative) because there’s no soul-crushing, fire extinguishing moment that makes me feel like catching the next guy is impossible. As a result, It feels like I push a lot harder at this one.
