I have my fingers crossed...

I love this sport...

79

Instead of riding my bike at all today I ate a bunch of cookies that Joel brought to the shop. Brilliant!

want.

I know it's lame... I admit it. But I still want them.

80

What should have been a 60+ mile ride was cut short by some bad luck.

We were out east with Jim and two of the Kazane guys enjoying the insanely favorable weather. Out near Charles City Jim split off to go hang out with his kid and we continued on our way to Roxbury and the dirt road before looping back in the same way. We rolled up to the mini mart by Charles City Rd to refill water. I noticed some fire trucks and a police cruiser down the road but didn't think anything of it. Some random woman asked if it was our friend who got hurt because she saw a bicycle down by the accident. It had been a while since we left Jim and I didn't think it was him but rolled over there anyway to see what was going on leaving everyone else at the store. As I pulled up I saw Jim's bike with a mangled front wheel and a VERY large truck.

I freaked out assuming the worst. The officer assured me that Jim was OK so after I calmed down a bit the cop asked if I could get someone to come move his bike (nice). Sarah was able to and I waited around for her while the rest of the guys went on their way.

Long story short Jim went to the hospital but is a-ok. His bike is not a-ok. The lady driving tried to pass him on the left after he signaled and started to turn left onto Charles City Rd. Nice.

Wear you helmet folks. Jim's is broken but his head is not.

81

No ride today. Work work work.

82

Awesome ride today. Met up with Pete Henry and Zachshaw to ride trails at Poorfarm Park. It's crazy how ninety minutes of trail riding feels like 3 hours on the road. I took the Cannondale 29r singlespeed demo bike from the shop. That bike is so sick. I totally believe the hype for the big wheels. Zach was blowing my doors off at times. He's going to be tough to beat in the single-speed races next year.

I'm not sure when I am going to ride trails next but it has to be soon...

83

Woke up early after staying up until about 1 with the family playing Memory Madness. Opened up presents (work boots! drill! sweet!). The plan was to do about 50 or so miles of riding today down to Quantico Marine Base then back up and around Nokesville. I first did this ride about a year after I got into road riding. I ended up adding on more small loops until I got to about 75 miles, which was at the time the longest ride I had done yet. I rarely get to ride up in Nokeville and it's a shame. The roads are as empty as the east end of Richmond and the terrain is just a bit flatter than the Ashland area. Perfect area for a relaxing ride.

After a big breakfast of home made waffles, fried apples, and scrapple I contracted a case of the itis and took a nap. We planned to ride at noon. We actually got rolling after 2. A 3+ hour ride was out of the question with the amount of daylight so we settled on 25 miles of rolling country roads around Nokesville. Perfect pace for a holiday ride. Back at the parent's house wearing compression socks and waiting the for the seafood stew to be completed.

Tonight it's back to RVA to feed the cats and so Sarah can work at 8 tomorrow. For me it's a nice day off and trip up to Poorfarm park with some of the CBC dudes for some mountain biking.

84

Xmas eve. Closed up shop early and headed back to nova to spend time with the family. No riding today.

Always good to be home. My parents always hook up the food properly.

85

40 minutes on the rollers at 7am. Nothing special. 5 minutes of leg-speed and a few 3 minute intervals. Just enough to get the metabolism firing on all cylinders.

86

Countdown.... time is running out.

Old stuff...

I really miss being in a shitty hardcore band...


My War @ Nanci Raygun

Beer and wine.

Makes my friends extra funny sometimes.

Wow, Bin22 sucks!

I have never understood why this place has to be such a painful establishment to deal with. The staff is ALWAYS rude, the coffee is mediocre, and just now I tried to order a bunch of their appetizers and was told the "don't do carry out anymore". How hard is it to put your food in a container so I can come give you money for it? On top of all this they have their "we don't take cards" policy which really just means "we don't take cards during the day". I am constantly reminded why I will always walk a block past this place to Can Can for a cup of coffee...
I was about to spend about $100 on appetizers. Ukrop's gets my money tonight. Thanks for nothing douche-bags!

Siiiiiick....

Support cycling... support Craig!

Craig Dodson of Richmond Pro Cycling is up for the '08 Crocs Inspiring Sole Award. This award recognizes five "athletes who have dedicated their lives to raising awareness for meaningful causes." Voting is easy and if you uncheck the box at the bottom you won't get the Crocs email newsletter. Best of all, if Craig wins he'll get $25k to the charity of his choice and a full profile in Outside Magazine. Above is a picture of Craig racing with Mike Stoop of Team Mountain Khakis (then Time Pro). Both of these teams will be rocking Kazane frames and wheels in '09.

Had a solid team ride with the guys today. Alli, Beckmann, Robert, Jim, and Ben were all present and accounted for. Johnny Pham from the VCU team joined us as well (Troy is out in Kansas city racing at cycocross nats). Did about 50 miles out east. Alli got cold and Jim had to peel off early for family stuff leaving just the five of us.

Everyone is riding really well which on further emphasizes how out of shape I am. Compared to this time last year everyone is in a completely different place with their fitness. Good stuff.

Got back around 1, took a shower, then back to CBC to meet up with the guys again to talk business for next year. After chowing down on 4 burgers from Weezie' Kitchen we talked business. Big things are in store for the team I think. More out of town races for sure.

Over the weekend we also added J.H. Revere aka the cycling attorney as a sponsor. Every bit helps my guys get to races when they are a bunch of broke full time students. Guys like J.H. make a huge difference for us. Thanks man...

B

Rat and Jeff camping in the Everglades...

Two words: Brokeback Swamp.

I wear too many hats

When I was younger I always thought that the hard decision would get easier as I grew. Turns out they only get harder and come more often. I don't get any pleasure from this kind of stuff. Nothing to do but shrug it off and Gorilla Biscuits.

2009

I am really excited about the 2009 race season. The way things are shaping up there will be 10-12 race days out at Southside Speedway with 8 of them being exclusively track races. From mid-March to mid-May there will be a weekly Tuesday night race.

I am expanding to A, B, and C races to make things a bit more fair for beginner riders and adding gear restrictions to the C race as well.

It even looks like we will have a few rental bikes for people to use who want to try track racing for the first time.

The first race is still 4 months away but I cant help getting amped up already. Sweet!

Starr

BWM + cross tires + drop bars = ???

Most fun fixed bike ever.

So I have been kicking around the idea of doing some grass track races here in Richmond this winter. In the summer I built up a completely over the top custom Brooklyn Gangsta Track for the pure irony of it. Today I switched out the dorky risers, bmx stem, and road tires for some 700x30 Michelin Jet cross tires, some ergo drops, and an extra road stem I had lying around. Also geared it at 49x20. Riding to work this morning was the best commute in a while. Super smooth ride and chill gear is the best idea ever and the cross tires make it look kindof like a monster truck. I think I have a few friends considering getting steamrollers to do the same thing to. Fat tires are where it's at.

That's it...

Recently

Screaming Trees are one of those bands I missed back when I was rocking out to Nirvana and Mudhoney. This is probably my favorite song from them but to be honest there is not a single song of theirs I don't enjoy.



I completely missed the boat on Seaweed. Better late than never.



Quicksand usually end up getting some time on the speakers around the same time Seaweed and Screaming Trees do.

No expanation needed...

More Trashmore CX photos...

taken by BJ Samuel. They are HERE.