Jingle Cross Rock Day 2...

Jingle Cross Rock Day One...

Jingle Cross Rock day 1 is in the books. It was a great day of racing all around! Lots of Midwest talent peaking at the right time.

Devon and Lisa Women's Pro 1st and 2nd podium rocking the sand.

The Wells bros. killing it from the start.

Troy Wells on the climb.

Marko rocking it!

Marko looking good on the climb.

Some Goofball all by himself.

At least I looked good.

The womens Pro race was great. A group got off the front Josie Jaques-Maynes, Devon Haskell, and Lisa Strong. They took turns attacking each other then settled in for a dual. Devon and Lisa dropped Josie and duked it out for the win with Devon getting the best of Lisa and Josie coming in third.


The men's race got off to an interesting start with a huge pile up early in the first lap allowing the Well's Brothers to escape never to be seen by the chasers again. Andy Jaques-Maynes put in a good effort to catch but couldn't close it down and was soon joined by Wsico boys Marko and Matter. They rode well together trading pulls until something happened to Matter who fell off the pace leaving Andy and Marko to dual it out for the final podium spot. Marko was on Andy's wheel going in to the final turns but Andy came around the final turn all alone to take third uncontested. I didn't hear what happened to Mark in the final turns (they were out of sight behind some barns) or what happened to Matter, but they both rocked it today!


My race- well had an awesome start moving up into the top 3 with some superior line choices on Crusty's wheel but couldn't hold the big boy's wheels. I managed a 13th in a very strong and packed field. Best of all I went up 3-0 on Crusty! He has to take the next three if he wants to pull even - not any easy task!


If tomorrow's weather forecast comes true it is going to be an snowy epic!

LeBam Down and Out...

Tuesday night was the start of an extended Holiday/Race weekend. With no work until Monday I had a hard ride planned Wed, Turkey and a spin on Thurs, and travel to Jingle Cross on Friday.

Well LeBam picked up a little friend from school, whose name is Projectile Vomit, and came home with other plans. It is always very obvious when she is feeling crappy - all she wants to do is lay on your lap and watch TV, she NEVER just watches TV she is usually doing 2 or 3 other things st the same time. About 6 pm in Tuesday the vomiting party began lasting most of the night. Wednesday she woke up made her way to the couch and then the living room floor and didn't move until bedtime - at least the vomiting had stopped, so we thought. Last night at 1 am it came back. This prompted a trip to the hospital, some IV fluids, nausea medications, and a 4 hour ER stay. I am happy to say she is smiling, eating crackers, and drinking today, the worst may be over. (fingers crossed) Now hopefully no one else in the house gets the bug and we can salvage the weekend.

here's to being healthy!

The weekend...

So I raced the 3's last weekend at the State Champs.  I needed a little "rubing is racing" time for the big boy races coming up.  The masters category up here is just too small and we all string out from the start and jsut kind of settle in.  I was looking for a little more chaos, and what better place to find it than lining up second row in the State Cat 3 race. 

Well I got what I was looking for.  I lined up right behind th

e series leader thinking he would start fast. well everyone swarmed him, I got pinched a little and tried to pass on the outside but got stuck in traffic about 5-7 wheel.  Tried to make my way up the line but the guys weren't having it. I came around on the flats but the leader was already gone.  They just let him ride away, there was never a reaction in the group no one tried to chase him content to let him go.  I guess this has been how it played out all year in the 3's.  After the split was made a group of 4  was left 2 SS and 2 of us on gears.  After trying to make something work between us and failing I uped the tempo and pulled away from the group.  I continured to chase but the damage had been done and the leader was well away.  Apparently he was met with a less than enthusastic reponse when he crossed the line and I was cheered on with "If i

t wasn't for the sandbagger you would be State Champ!"  Whatever the case he rode away, no one chased him , and I couldn't catch him, so good for him he will face the music in the 1/2's next year.  I was a little worried I would get the sandbagger label after racing Masters all season but all of the ill will was directed at the other guy, and I had a lot of "If it wasn't for ___......."  conversartions after the race from the other guys in the race.  It's all good.  I had a great time racing in Wisco this year - THANKS TO ALL THE PROMOTERS, SUPERFANS, SUPPORTERS, AND RACERS for an awesome Wisconsin Cross season!!  

One of my favorite shots from the race. Borrowed from djohnnymac thanks!

Still 5 more races on the calendar for me 4 of which pit me against Crusty.  Watch out Crusty I am feeling fast!

Wisco State Photo Essay...

Here are some shots from the Wisconsin State Cross Race today. I'll give some words later...

MWI ready to crush the 4's. Dr. Giggles took the title and CT came in 7th?

Start mood was relaxed in the 3's.

Chasing.

Chillin poolside.

Looking good.

"State fan" - state champ and superfan!

Cheering section.

And a Super Pit Crew.

Equals 2nd Place in the Cat 3 State Race.

Loading up the B.A.V. after an awesome day!

Thanks to everyone who braved the cold and cheered their hearts out! All the encouragement makes you faster and helps wash away the pain of pushing yourself past your limits.

3 more weekends of racing folks. Next up round 3 of Crusty v. Endo at Jingle Cross in Iowa.

Jingle Cross Rock...

So it is official I am going to beat Crusty at Jingle Cross! How do I know, you ask. Well the intraweb says so of course. In fact I am going to take third behind this guy and Shawn, not bad I'll take that. Says so right here. Well that only takes into consideration racers who have been in races that are tracked by BikeReg or the cross results website, but still I am going to beat Crusty! As for Kevin and Shawn those guys have been on all season, Kevin has been sticking it to the 1/2s down in Chicago and Shawn is running second over all in the 30+ here in Wisco, just missing out on the W a couple of times. I am going to turn myself inside out to stay on some wheels and make something happen at Jingle Cross!

...only 4 weekends left here in the upper Midwest - make it happen!
Oh and Crusty just remember as long as you try, it doesn't if you win your lose, well mostly lose.

Arrrgh....

No matter how cold, tired, or ready to leave you are after a race - never ever assume the officials will get the placing right and leave.  I was only passed by one rider on Saturday, who went on to win the race, while sitting in third and somehow today I am in 7th place.  Let's just say they blew it big time on this race!  Laps were mysteriously disappearing on the lap cards, no one really knew how many laps we had to go, come on only 10 Masters and 8 Pro/1/2 and you can't keep track?  Don't even get me started on the rampant sandbagging that is going on in the 4's and 3's that is totally being ignored.

Sorry jsut one of those venting kind of days...

...icy roads forced me indoors to ride!   Oh not to mention I took out a sign post last night driving home form work.

Enjoy your internal victories and don't worry about the "results"!