Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Bits and Pieces

Mental note: ALWAYS check tire pressure on the pit bike before the race! I was going over the bikes last night, and getting the pit/training bike ready for a ride after work today. As I swapped out my wheels (yes, I have a race set for my pit bike, doesn’t everyone?), I noticed the tires seemed a little firm, so I checked the pressure, and sure enough I was running 50+psi on the pit bike! Well, that explains why I had such a hard time climbing some of those hills! Brilliant Scott, brilliant.

Shout Out: I forgot to thank Bro-man for running to the pits on Sunday to give me a bike exchange. After Alpenrose I showed him how a bike exchange would ideally happen, and he pulled it off like a pro, that is after he saw me running to him and realized he was on the wrong side of the bike, but it looked so pretty I even heard a compliment from someone nearby. Nice work Bro-man.

Sunday was also Margi’s second cross race. She continues to race really well. Last week she was 5th in her first race, and she moved up to 4th yesterday. Look out ladies, there’s a new force to be reckoned with! Speaking of ladies to be reckoned with Heather had an awesome race on Sunday. In her second race in the B’s she took 2nd! That is awesome Heather. Keep it up, you’re riding real strong.

I stole this cool photo from Bob Libby, Cary the Miller Kid is battling Hulik for the hole shot, but notice to the right, Decker is pulling a wheelie through the puddle off the start!


US Grand Prix of Cyclocross
This weekend is the start of the USGP of Cross. It is a six race series in held in three cities. This year’s races are in Louisville, KY, Mercer, NJ and Portland, OR. It just so happens that my good friend/teammate/riding partner and the guy who pretty much taught me to race cross, Brian, just moved to Louisville this summer, AND I am from Jersey, with my mom living about 45 mins from the race. Sounded too good to be true, so I cashed in a whole bunch of frequent flier miles, and was able to get flights to both KY and NJ. So I won’t be in Astoria this weekend, I’ll be racing in Louisville. Yup that's right, I'm living like a pro, and racing like an amateur! It should be interesting to say the least. I have no idea what the competition will be like, so I am really hoping for is a couple of good solid races. It’ll be hard, I think there will be some real fast guys there. Anyway, I got myself a new camera, so if nothing else I will try to get some video and shots of the Men’s and Women’s races. And if I can find a wi-fi hook-up (not sure if they have internet in KY) I’ll post some results, so come on back ya hear!

Speaking of the new camera, I shot a couple videos of the B’s Sunday. Here’s the B men coming up the hill off the track:

And here’s one of them in the Sand pit: