Not MY national champion...

So Hamilton is going to wear the stars and stripes jersey next year... wow. I wonder if they will give him an extra jersey for that disappearing twin of his. Chimera my ass... that guy is still scum in my book.

Trash

Gearing up to move is always a pain in the ass. I dread the day of moving box after box of personal affects from house to truck to new house. So in the interest of moving less crap I am taking steps to purge myself of shit I just don't need. So far a bag of clothes is going to charity and pretty much all the comic books I have left are getting donated to Stories comic shop. Shoes are up next. Then who knows. Buying a house is a big step for me and I'm enjoying the prospect of using this turning point to make other changes and tie up loose ends.

WTF?

I'm as straight as the line that Boonen sniffs up his nose
And I'm as hard as the meth Ondrej Sosenka slams into his veins...

I'm going to have straight edge revenge on these dumbshits if they don't stop doing this stupid crap...

WTF? METH? What fucking year is this? Did all of the Czech Republic become a trailer park?

I'm not as funny as I think...

But who cares...

Bones touching!

No more 8mm gap between the two haves of my left collarbone. While they are still overlapping (and always will be) they are at least touching and there is even a hint of cloudiness in the xray around the break that signifies that a calcium deposit is starting to build up around the break. That means it is actually starting to heal. Finally. Still going to be off the bike for a while but at least I know things will end up running their course without any major problems. I just have to be patient.

Stress...

Stress is not having any idea if your broken bone has actually decided to start healing after 5 weeks. Getting another xray tomorrow and I really hope there are some signs that the bone is knitting. Trying to be optimistic is hard when I know that the alternative is surgery that I can't actually afford. Especially because I am trying to buy this:
It does not look like much now but if we buy it I have some big plans. That building in the background is a decent size garage that I will totally convert into an art studio. Plenty of room for the dogs too because the house is on a double lot. Crossing my fingers on this.

Holy shit.

What I just heard blew my mind. I'll just leave it at that.

End of the season...

So the road season is essentially at an end. Looking back I have to say this was the most fun year of racing I have had since I started 7 years ago. With the help of some photos by Kevin Dillard of Demoncats I wanted to go over some of the people and things that made this season what it was for me.

Easily the biggest part of making this year great has been the team. When I started the CBC u23 team last year I had high hopes for everyone but things still managed to exceed my expectations. Not only on the bike but off the guys have really come a long way. At all the races I put on this year I never had to ask anyone twice to help out. From running registration to moving wayward port-a-johns off the course there were always extra hands to help make any task easier. When I had to be taken to the hospital before the Circuit Race ended I knew things would be ok because I am part of a great team of selfless individuals.
This lack of ego on the team has been one of it's greatest strengths. Not a single member is EVER afraid to get on the front and work hard. I see so many people that just sit in and wait and while that's fine I would much rather race with people who want to put their head out in the wind and make something happen.

What has grown into our cat 3 team is one of the biggest successes this season. With the exception of Robert all of the guys were Cat5's back in January. Within a few months Andrew Alli and Ben Rickey moved up to cat3. Robert followed recently and in the 2nd half of the season Andrew Troy joined the team add a 4th cat3 to the squad. Brian Beckmann is not far from getting his upgrade as well. Next year should be interesting in the cat 123 and 3 races.

As the most experienced member of the team Robert was tapped to be the captain. His ability to stay cool in any situation and no bullshit attitude has rubbed off on the less experienced guys and been a major plus.

When not busy "getting real" Brian was usually found either working his ass off in races or getting the guys fired up before hand.
With almost no sound at all Ben Rickey had a great first year of racing. From some great collegiate results to a top 5 at Jefferson Cup and on though the rest of the year he has followed the Rickey family tradition of racing bikes like he means business.I think it took him almost all season to realize it but Ben Hatton is actually pretty fast. I knew it all along that he was going to put things together but when he made Rich Harper of Inferno Racing work all the way to the line during a match sprint it made everyone sit up and take notice. While he did not win that time it's not every day you see someone who was cat5 a few weeks earlier push a sponsored Cat1 all the way to the line. All this while wearing Ray Bans.
Andrew's kick in the final 200 meters of a race caused people to take notice from day one. It's no secret now that he has the kind of finishing speed to win races. Last year all he wanted to do was race track bikes. One year later he is just as amped on road racing and has really started to learn the moves that it takes to put himself in the right spot in those last few laps of a crit to put that sprint to use.
Andrew Troy was a late addition to the team but he had no trouble fitting right in. Andrew had been racing with most of the other guys during the collegiate season. Shortly after joining up he won the Cat3 Mill Mountain Time Trial bringing the team some more accolades.
Last summer at Bryan Park I tapped Mark on the shoulder during the B race and said "let's go". At the time Mark was riding for Nature's Path / 3sport. By the end of the day I had launched Mark to a solo victory and we both knew we wanted to be on the same team next year. Mark joined the U23 team as a mentor and has been a great influence on the guys. Unfortunately we are losing Mark to St. Louis next year. I hear the racing scene is great out there and some team is going to be extremely lucky to have him as a member.
Mike Oughton was one of the very first (if not the first) to sign up for the CBC club team. He has managed to line up at the starting line about 30 times this year and still manages to get his two sons out there to race as juniors as well. A great guy all around Mike will be taking over as the director of the club team this year so I can focus 100% on the u23 team. I know the club is going to be in good hands.

Richmond has WAY more than it's fair share of really great people in the cycling community.
John Messersmith is one of those guys. Despite being on a rival team he decided to sponsor the CBC u23 team. His donation helped get the guys to some races they probably would not have made it to otherwise.
Jim Temple is one of those guys that you only have to talk to for 15 seconds and know he is a good person through and through. Jim remains completely ageless at heart and his ability to always maintain a positive attitude and a sense of humor is something rare. As one of the other mentors of the u23 team Jim's good will and good humor have always kept everyone around him smiling.
JH Revere is another one of the people who makes this town great for cycling. When word got out that the final Go Fast Turn Left race was in financial difficulty this year he was one of the first people who contacted me about donating some money to make sure it happened. Because of a family vacation he could not even be there but wanted to do what he could to make sure the race happened. His wife and two sons race as well and the Revere cycling family has been at almost every race I have ever put on and often out there helping make it happen. At the Bryan Park Circuit race JH and his two sons were up at 7am sweeping the course while his wife Susan spent most of the day helping with registration. The whole Revere clan races for Team Altius and stood to gain nothing by helping out. Their selfless commitment to cycling in Richmond should be an inspiration to everyone.
Speaking of inspiration you cant make a list of people in Richmond who contribute to bike racing with out Matt Marchal. Matt has volunteered as medical personnel for not only most of the races I have put on but just about every race in Richmond . Thanks to his good work and good humor there are two kinds of bike racers in this town: those who have received medical attention from Dr. Matt and those who have been lucky enough not to crash yet. Personal physician to the majority of the community, nice guy, and a great petanque player. All this and he works for wine and t-shirts!




Sarah Caravella and Julie Kuliecza. Two of the local women not afraid to mix it up in the men's races. Sarah because she is a bad-ass pro cyclist and Julie because she is trying hard to be a bad-ass pro cyclist and knows the best way to get there is to do the hardest races she can find. At the final Southside Speedway race she finished the Men's 123 race in the top 20 beating out PLENTY of guys. More women should be looking to these two for inspiration and hopefully they will be helping to mentor the CBC women's team next year that Starr and my Sarah are putting together.
Speaking of my Sarah it's no secret she is the glue that keeps my chaotic life in one piece. I get the credit but if it was not for her work on race day none of my events would actually work out at all. Next time you see her at a race make sure you thank her and not me for all the hard work that goes into putting one bike races because I assure you she deserves it more than I do. Sarah took this year off racing but will be coming back swinging next year with the CBC women's team.
Speaking of ladies I have to mention the Rostello women's team. Karen Hanson has always made sure that her team has been out there supporting all the local races. Their club put on the state time trial this year. While personally I hate time trials somebody had to do this... ha ha.

The Rat. Probably the only racer funded 100% by ebay and iphone scams. He will be joining the cbc u23 team next year adding some more firepower to the 123 races.
Jeff Buckles. Another mentor of the U23 team that played a big role in getting the team where it is now. Next season he goes from metor to coach and will be schooling the cat 3 team on the proper way to train and I'm willing to bet money it will pay off.
I was happy to see Chad Rathbone racing again this year. His racing style can only be described with one word: fearless. Chad is the guy who is willing to attack over and over again throwing caution to the wind to make the break happen. Guys like him make racing fun and he always proves to be a worthy adversary in any race.

Jeff Brandon sets the bar in the sprint that Andrew is shooting for. For no other reason that that he is worth mentioning. Beyond that he has always been a great guy and was on one of the first roadies to realize how fun track looked and bought a track bike. Now he is hooked. Next year we have to get him up to Trexlertown. Too bad he's not on our team...

Danielle and Gilbert Craven. Probably the most organized USCF officials in the district. Despite having to pay more in gas money to get them here I will ALWAYS request they work my races. They make my life easier and are super nice to boot.

Last but not least... G Baker Ellet. If you know him you like him. Always good for a laugh. Always at the Tuesday night races with free drinks for the racers. Always with a smile on his face. On top of this he is helping Sarah and I buy our first house.

Not covered because I am getting lazy or because I don't have a good picture of them...
Stratton, Sean Yeager, Pete and Sally Swan, Craig Dodson and the rest of the RPC guys, Keck Baker, Mason Haymes, Rob Suydam, Joe Notarnacola, the whole CBC club team and anyone else I am forgetting...

Thanks for the great year!

Best

Richmond is going to miss you and all your hard work.

House hunting...

Sarah and I are going to be driving around today to check out some houses in person that we have found online. I still can't 100% believe that we are actually going to buy a house in the next few months. It's pretty exciting. I am really looking forward to the act of putting time and effort into a house and yard and not feel like a sucker because someone else owns it. I definitely plan on building a really nice Japanese style garden. Knowing that I will be in the same place for years to come will also afford me the ability to take some steps with my dabbling in bonsai that I previously could not. One of these is the act of planting trees in open ground for a time. For those who don't really know much about it the concept of taking a bonsai tree out of pot and putting it in the ground seems strange but is actually really important when developing a miniature tree from what is essentially a shaped sapling to a mature miniature tree. About half of the trees I am working on could benefit from at least two or three years in the ground.
Realistically we are looking for something pretty small with a yard but I am crossing my fingers with the hope that we will have enough space that I an make a nice studio room for painting again. Something else I neglect entirely to much.

The old me....

My friend Jared had some videos of my old band My War. They are posted up on the now defunct band's myspace. Making music is something I dearly miss doing but seriously don't have the time to do anymore. Chances are I will never be in a band ever again. Kindof depressing.

Anyway... you can see them HERE if you want to.

Ready to print...

These will be out in a week or two...

Birth control is not abortion...

I'm not trying to weigh in on actual abortion because I don't feel like stirring up that shitstorm. However this came across the internet to me today and I felt compelled to pass it along. Not sure who originally started this chain but it's worth it to pass it on.


I had to share something with you.
Can you imagine living in a place where birth control is considered an "abortion" and health insurers won't cover it? Where even rape victims are denied emergency contraception?

It seems unbelievable, but the Bush Administration is quietly trying to redefine "abortion" to include birth control. The Houston Chronicle says this could wipe out dozens of state laws that protect women's reproductive freedom and protect rape victims. And this proposed "rule change" doesn't need congressional approval.



I just signed a message to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, whose department is considering this rule change, telling him: "Contraception is NOT abortion." Can you add your voice to this cause? Click here to sign the message.

Thanks!

Another new shirt...

News from Kentucky

My brother Whitney recently moved to Louisville and about a week ago I bought himself a rabbit.

A rabbit would not make it long in my house with Buster around so I don't take much interest in lagomorphs, but I have to admit this little guy is pretty cute.



This is what Whit has to say on the subject...

So far he's been really active and playful. He really likes to run real fast and jump and spin in the air. Today he got to play outside of his cage for a while and was having a ball. I need to get him some toys of some sort when he's in his cage though. He's also completely cleaned out all the bedding from his wooden hutch I got him and likes to lounge in it with his paws hanging out. So far so good.

Finally..

Something finally clicked for the CBC team yesterday in the 3/4 race. The team did not have a non Bryan Park win to their credit since several members upgraded to cat 3. Yesterday that changed. Attacks were finally followed by counter attacks and when it came down to the finish guys put themselves in a good spot (after a little yelling). When the race was over the results spoke for themselves...
1. Andrew Alli Team Carytown Bicycle Company
2. Mark Saunders Team Natures Path 3sports
3. Andrew Troy Team Carytown Bicycle Company

Good job guys. I'll have to sit out more races and yell direction from the sidelines in the future.

In the track races Andrew showed that he still had the legs to mix it up with Jeff Buckles (pro), Jeff Brandon (cat 1), and some Australian pro rider on RiteAid. Ben, Ben, and Brian rode the track events well too.

Hats off to Ben Rickey for riding out of his skin to stay in the mix in the brutal 1/2/3 race.

Next

I'm such a dork...

I can't get enough dorky Asian Otaku stuff weather it be Japanese or Chinese. Case in point...
the Fuwa were designed by the Chinese artist Han Meilin. I have to admit I would not mind having this particular one on a t-shirt.


In other news... a product review! Stupid!

What is Ultram ER you ask. Well let me tell you. By now I am sure that all my whining and complaining has alerted you to the fact that I have a broken clavicle. This is not a particularly fun injury to have. I have been pretty lucky so far and only have two other broken bones to my name and both were extremely minor. This one... well it sucks. Not so much the pain in the break but the intense pain of a bursitis forming in my shoulder from the strange angle that I have to hold my arm in a sling. Lucky for me I have a great doc. Doctor Matt Marchal of Altius Family and Sports Medicine is a fellow cyclist and all around good guy. I'm lucky to be able to consider this guy a friend. So to help out he gave me some samples of Ultram ER. After being pumped full of morphine at the ER which made me feel absolutely disgusting and being prescribed Hydrocodn/apap which has just enough narcotics to make you feel just a wee bit off I was not looking forward to any more pills. This stuff however is the shit. Takes the edge off the pain all day and from what I can tell has none of the typical side effects associated with prescription pain killers. Basically I feel like I am on some bad ass asprin. Good times.

Speaking of Dr. Matt I should mention that his practice has donated $500 to the race this weekend. Awesome. If you are cyclist in Richmond and this guy is NOT your doc you are doing something wrong.

Stu Louder thinks I'm a dick.

I must be doing something right.

Not a good day...

Did not get out of bed until around 11am. Went to Joe's market with Sarah. Ate a sandwich and dessert. Felt like crap. Took a nap. Woke up feeling like crap. Went to the shop.

Work stresses me out most when I am not there. I show up to find a mountain of boxes by the back door and everyone ignoring them. I ask Joel what time UPS arrived. He says "around four". It's now about 6 and the shit is basically untouched. I help customers for a while and then get down to checking in stuff. How actual work did it take to get all the stuff put away? Less than 30 minutes. Not looking forward to tomorrow. Bike fits, meeting with sales reps, normal work... then prep for the race on Saturday. All this and I have not ridden a bike since July 20th. Realized today that it's actually making me depressed. I think my collar bone is actually starting to heal. Won't know for sure for at least another week though. Still hurts like hell at random times throughout the day.

Napping and no bike time is totally ruining my sleep at night.

bike drunks are still drunks

xxx

Starr "train-wreck" Walker

This is a series of text messages I got last night...

10:09:18pm From 8047870059- Star is puking! Oh no!
10:09:22pm From Ben Hatton- Starrs throwing up everywher
10:09:36pm From Tony Hall- Starr just ruled
10:09:47pm From Starr- Ahhhhhh
10:10:40pm From Me- Classy
10:15:10pm From Tony Hall- Starr puts the ass in classy
10:16:22pm From Ben Hatton- Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Stratton and JH

Good dudes both of them. The 3rd round of Go Fast Turn Left is in danger of not happening because of lack of money. Both of these guys stepped up and are kicking in a few hundred bucks out of their own pockets to help out.

Richmond has a really amazing cycling community and it's people like these guys who really show just how great it is here.

Thanks guys.

Stress

5:55 am. Not sleeping well.

Broken bone: Had some xrays taken of the broken bone yesterday. It's not joined yet. That's bad. Dr Matt is going to take a look at the xrays today. Hopefully he will have some positive news. This is really stressing me out. I can't afford surgery. At least it does not hurt much.

Buying a house: It just might happen. Met with a loan officer and it actually looks like Sarah and I can afford to buy a house. Baker is researching the house next door that is vacant. Perfect size, nice yard, wood stove. Just what we want. Trying not to get my hopes up. I hate let downs of this magnitude.

Good stuff... Go Fast Turn Left Tshirt....

I should try and get some sleep...

Ouch...

So after two weeks of progress my shoulder and collar bone have decided to start hurting like hell at random times throughout the day. First the bone hurts so I put my arm back in the sling. All is well for a while. Then without warning it feels like someone is putting a knife into the back of my shoulder. Arm comes out of the sling. All is well for a while. Bone starts to hurt... repeat ad nauseum. Good times.

This week has been up and down. There was an amazing steel Look track frame on ebay in my size. I decided I wanted to buy it. I had the money (kindof... I had it yes... but should I spend it? Probably not). So with 5 minutes to go I am sitting in front of a computer waiting to swoop in for the kill. I was willing to go $800 on it and the bid was sitting at about $500. Well to kill a few seconds while waiting for a minute to go I start reading a certain someones blog. When I go back to ebay and hit refresh I missed the auction end? WTF? Am I an idiot? Yes. Is it all for the best because I should not be spending hundreds of dollars on a track frame when I am trying to buy a house? Double yes. I still want to punch myself in the head every time I think about it though. Of all the track bikes made in the 1990's there are three that I have always wanted. The Look probably being at the top of the list.
The second is an early 90's Cannondale. I actually had one just like the one to the left. Like a complete moron I decided one day I wanted to sell it to buy a lugged steel frame. Few decisions in my life do I regret more. I sold it to my friend Billy who I am quite sure will keep it until it breaks as I should have. This bike defined early 90's track frames in my opinion. Super stiff, great handling, good looks. Why did I sell it? Because I am an idiot. The last of the three on the want list is just a lowly black GT Pulse (or even a GT-B. I have a soft spot for the triple triangle design even though they are not particularly nice bikes. Oh well... maybe next time. Maybe never.

The high point of this week has been the discovery of a nice plug-in for Mozilla Firefox. Nerdy I assure you but there is something called adblock with out the line of pictures and links to stupid shit you don't want going down the right hand of the screen. that allows you to disable many of the little advertisements that are on your screen when you go to certain webpages. I am not talking popups. Firefox already takes care of those. But go to bikeforums. Now imagine that webpageAdblock makes that stuff go away. It takes a couple minutes to set up for each website you go to but I seem to frequent the same few webpages the most and its nice not to have those all crowded with ads. It works especially well on myspace and gets ride of those pesky movie ads.

Give me a break...

So apparently 4 members of the U.S. national track team got off the plane in Beijing wearing pollution masks that were issued by their national federation. This apparently has hurt the feelings of many people in China. Maybe I am an insensitive prick but give me a fucking break. It's no big secret that the air quality in Beijing is pretty bad. If four athletes that often rely on thousandths of a second to secure victory in their respective events want to take whatever steps necessary to protect their lungs while waiting to compete in the Olympics so be it. If the politicians and people of China don't want people to come off planes wearing masks they the first step would be improving their air quality. I can't believe that anyone actually issued an apology. This guy has no reason to apologize to anyone for anything...

Learn something every day

I learned about a very appropriate quote today. There is an "interesting" political debate going on on the local MTB forum and I picked up this gem along the way...

Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."

Life is good but deep down I know dark days are somewhere down the road for all of us...

The Dark Knight

It's no secret that everyone is sweating this movie. I went to see it today. I have to agree with the masses. Very good movie. Every scene with the joker I couldn't help but think about how Heath Ledger did not live to get the respect that he deserves for his work in this role. Oh well... his choice to mix prescription meds and hard drugs, not mine.

Best line of movie: "some people just want to see the world burn."

Spent most of the day with my arm out of the sling. I can raise my hand all the way above my head now too. Good sighs. But now it's 10pm and my shoulder hurts like hell. I should probably push it less tomorrow.

More uselessness of note...

My sleep pattern is completely wrecked.

Some guy named Mark took some pictures at Bryan Park on Tuesday. You can see them here...

I learned some useful information about firewood today. My father in law came up to help us move 200 gallons of heating oil from southside to our house. I was supposed to but a broken clavicle got me out of that bit of hard work. I do feel bad about this but at the same time I did not have to spend the better part of today sweating my ass off so I'm going to chalk this one up in the "win" column. So he came up with two missions. One to move some fuel and the other to give us some much need schooling on splitting wood. A few weeks ago I was working on some smaller pieces with a maul or "poppper" The technique was not the best but I did make some progress. However it did seem that I was not making progress at a very swift rate. Apparently it's quite a bit easier to split wood when it is in the from of a billet.
When a tree is chopped down for wood the large parts of the trunk are cut into cross-sections that of various thicknesses. We have several from a large dead oak that was cut down in the lot next door. Each one was over 24" across and at least 14" tall. They all weigh over 100lbs too. So Howdy gave us some advice and a demo on how to split wood with a sledge hammer and a wedge. Turns out its actually pretty easy to make short work of a large billet of wood with the right tools.

Sarah has been really pushing to learn more practical skills like this and hopefully we will actually get to make use of them. If we end up getting a wood stove this can easily save us $2000 on our heating bill this winter.

Oh and as an epilogue to my earlier post about the oil moving scheme the end result was this. We ended up getting just short of 180 gallons of heating oil.
Cost of oil $100
Cost of pump $50
Cost of two 55gallon drums $50
Cost of gas to get to southside and back a few times $10

Total cost of project: $250
Cost of 180 gallons of oil at projected fall rate of $4.65 per gallon: $837
Total money saved: $587

Sweet!

Shirt update...

Artwork pretty much done. The computer screen does not do it justice. For those who have seen the shirt with the guy wearing a cbc jersey sporting an afro you know what the printing style will be like.