Part 2 of the bike racing post just without the bike racing

All this bike racing has really been getting in the way of life. I have been spending a very limited time in the woods. That is not only bad for the psyche, but didnt help my pursuit of the white tail during bow hunting season. This summer I acheived a goal of producing a bow from the landscape, but I just didnt have the time to practice enough to reliably make the clean shot. Actually making a shot on target is rare. So I stuck with my hand me down compound bow with sights. Not the end of the world. But lacking time in the woods, that was limited in productivity as well. Which is OK. Sitting in the woods is nice. It's not all about bringing home a deer. It's about connections to the real (natural) world. A connection to an activity that is fundamental to being human. Also eating good food and filling a predator void created by our imbalances. The unfortunate thing is I failed because I am lacking the connection to the real world and I miss out on the other three things because of it.

Yesterday I was surprised to hear a little bit on de-evolution in somewhat mainstream media. Well, on Wait wait don't tell me, which pulls it's humor from the media. They even used the term, which I don't totally embrace, but the theory was there. It's not surprising to me that it is so rare to hear it even mentioned. It has no easy solution. It might not even have a difficult one. Climate change? Cake. Stop burning fossil fuels, which are unnecessary for human life. Easy. So called de-evolution deals with a fundamental human trait. Our nasty little habit of controlling everything in our environment. What we control we remove from the great balance. What is removed is, well, off balance. The point of the skit on the radio was that human are getting dumber. That's a pretty broad generalization, but the point is without natural selection, there is no reason a smart person would be more successful at breeding than a dumb person. Just like a person predisposed for cancer, heart disease, poor eyesight, etc has no problem passing those genetics on to the next generation.

Now to tie these two topics together I'll talk about a recent event in the woods around my home. Opening day of gun season for white tail deer. De-evolution at work. These are not wise and capable hunters. Seriously, "hunting" with a gun is about as hard as going to the grocery store. It takes about the same effort and that is evident by the sight of some of these characters out there. It also takes about as much wisdom. The gun does all the work. Deer didn't evolve to avoid bullets sailing from a hundred yards away. All you do is sit and line up the sights. You dont even have to sit in the right spot really. Just a general vicinity, which is almost hard not to be if you are in the woods or field. They don't really need to aim that well either. Again general vicinity is good enough. Bullet goes through bone. With bow hunting at least you have to be sitting within like 20 yards of an unsuspecting deer that has to be facing a certain direction. Today this is considered "really hard". While yeah, I am unsuccessful so far, it really isn't so hard in the big picture. It's only hard because we are so far removed. Modern bows are really just quiet, short range guns. All the bells and whistles. If we think about how much time and experience we have with something like driving, and imagine if we spent that time learning to hunt from childhood......yeah, modern bow hunting is anything but difficult. All this being said, I guess I dont have any problem with gun hunting, other than the noise and the obnoxious people. If it's like going to the grocery store, well, at least it's fulfilling those two things mentioned above. They are eating good meat and filling that predator void. Now trophy hunting? No excuses. Trophy hunters are unskilled, misguided, meat heads. Humans used to be a component in natural selection. We culled the weak from the gene pool of our prey. Now these idiots go out and shoot the biggest and strongest with a rifle from a quarter mile away. I wonder what that's doing for the genetics of our prey?

where have I been?

been a lot of places. It's been long enough that I think I'll skim through the results and then summarize the big picture so far....and then get on with subjects of more substance.


I pulled off a 2nd place in Maine for the downeast UCI weekend. Felt OK, not super, but led alot of the race till Lindine caught me and I started to have lower back issues. Day two I flew through the air onto my face hard enough that I was a little dazed. Called it a day.

 I braved the coming of superstorm sandy and the prospect of being in New Jersey regardless of weather to race one day of HPCX. This was the first weekend that my current UCI points became effective. Front row! I was able to start with the front and let the race develope without going ballistic. Of course, presicely when the front was starting to throw a few punches a mechanical sent me right to the back again. Ahh, this again. I salvaged a 5th.

Alright the season starts. Front row again @ Cyclesmart Inernational. Lead got established and I was there.....barely.  So there was my answer to wear I would be if the bad start position was taken out of the equation. I was there, but I didnt have much to contribute to the racing at the front. Check this out. On day 2 I decided to test the bad start theory again by missing my call up to the front row and hanging back in the third row. I fought tooth and nail to that front group again but again I was just there, ready to be on the back at the finish line. Day one I was able to get in for 5th due to a bunch of crashing. Although its not really a gimme. I stayed upright and hence rolled in for 5th. Day 2 all those guys stayed upright, relegating me to 7th..

After a last minute decision Dan and I met up with the Jam fund van to get to the Louisville USGP. I soon remembered why I quit road racing. Well, one of the reasons. The team van. probably my least desirable method of doing something I dont desire. No offense to the Jam team cause it also was one of the most hilarious van rides I've been on. That is saying a lot. Anyway, my current UCI points were only good for 3rd row in this field. I killled the start on Saturday and snuck in the lead group. This course had some world class sand though and I guess I have some work in that department. I was flying right through in warm up, but in the race I was all off. That surprised me because skill is usually my fallback when fitness is lacking. Anyway that shot my right out of the lead group and left me fighting for 14th in the C1 event. Not bad. Not great. Story of my season. Day two I had a bad start and never got to the front. I finished 19th, but I crossed the line with a rubber chicken that I grabbed by the barriers from frame builder Don Walker who was screaming $20 to finish with the chicken. It had a dollar in its mouth and I had grabbed one earlier in the day too. So I was up to $22 dollars combined with my $28 prize for 19th and its still a crappy payday.

That was alot of words on bike racing. I'm just going to do another post on important stuff.

racing update

Well, I made it through Gloucester and Providence. Thought I'd type an update. The two weekends were quite similar.

Day one Gloucester, a little wet, but plenty o' traction, lots of pedaling. I started somewhere just behind mid-pack. I didn't pass all that many people on the pavement like I had hoped. Everyone was going so damn fast. So I had to pass a bunch in the first bit of turns and just work through as many as I could, one by one for the whole race. I made it up into a group that was at the back end of the top 20. I kept pushing the pace in that group till it was down to just two and was out sprinted on the pavement. That meant I snuck in for 15th and the last UCI C2 points given out.

Day two started with morning rain that changed conditions significantly. I like that, but I didn't like my random draw start for the day. I don't remember what place it was but I was the second to last called to the line. Well, I couldn't see the line way up there, but I was called to the back of the people who were at the line. At least in the 90s. At this point I'm getting a little discouraged and I am sick of having to go so hard off the line. I knew it was going to be mayhem with the mud and all so I just started in my own row behind everyone and rode the pavement there, alone. Craziness ensued in the mud and I skirted around. Worked my way into 23rd by the end.

Day one Providence was dry and fast. Way too much pedaling. I had another mid-pack start draw, but I just suffered with the pedaling. That's bout all I remember. Suffering. I made it to 18th. No C1 points this time.

Day two, like Gloucester, changed significantly. Rain fell pretty much right before the start and made a layer of slime on top of solid earth. Also, like Gloucester I drew a start in the back of a 100 rider field. I think I drew 88, but missed my call. Didn't matter anyway. I'd rather be behind the last row on one side than in the middle of the second to last row. In the situation you have to work over to one side before you can move up much. From behind the back I have a straight shot up the side....usually. But anyway, I just didn't feel like fighting from the back, period. Like last Sunday I started slow and let the crashes happen and just skirt around. I didn't have a whole lot of motivation after that though and kind of just stayed upright, riding at a sub-race pace. I figured I was way back in the 50s-60s, but turned out I was inside the top twenty. Maybe 16th. Not knowing that I let anyone who was fighting go right around me. The end came and I was 24th.

Robbed in Baltimore

I don't like cities. No, I hate cities. They are the site of the human infection where the wound is gaping and the tissue is long dead and decaying. The long red streaks of the suburbs reach out into the living tissue of the planet. My experience with Baltimore went as usual. General disgust and overwhelming stress as I made my way to Druid Hill Park. Once inside I was able to block it out a bit, but only for a bit as we were surrounded. The city made it way to my car and my teamates car and decided to remove the contents of my wallet. This poor woodsman isn't used to having to worry about this sort of thing and of course had the thing stuffed with a significant portion of my worth....and when I say poor I also mean monetarily poor. My teamate Dan Chabanov is also poor and made a donation to the city by way of an expensive camera. Thing is though, he lives in these concrete jungles....he would argue that not all infections are the same....maybe not worded that way. Despite making sure I got a peek at my car every lap, the race went OK. Apparently the computer doesn't have much better luck than I. I've been pulling last row with the number out of the hat thing. The computer random kept me back there this weekend. 36th and 37th @ call up. Not dead last but close enough. I made my way through the pack on day one to make contact with the front of the race just as it was surging. A separation happened and I was behind it. I kept the pace and it split again. The end result was 2 leaders, 2 chasers, me and Ryan Dewald, and a large group behind. We worked together but couldn't make contact ahaead. I personally didn't have much to push with. Once we were certain to not make a catch or be caught I saved a little and took the sprint in for 5th. The next day I went about my business at the back of the pack and as usual when I reached the race at the front they were throwing down. This time I kept pace and made the split. It was me and the Euros from then on out. Bazin, Field, and the Frenchman's teamate Dassonville who started right in front of me. Nice to see someone else having to make it from the back. We cruzed around with a few surges happening, but when Bazin accelerated we all separated out to singles. The last 2 laps I was trying to close in on Dassonville in 3rd to make the podium, but just couldn't close the 5 second gap. We filed in with that order. Again another improvement. Things are alot farther behind than I thought they would be but at least they are headed in the right direction.

The mountains are green, with a little red and yellow starting to show through

Ah, Green Mountain cross weekend. This was my first cross race on a cross bike. I had like 50psi in my tires cause I didn't know any better. It was muddy. I fell....and almost fell alot. I cant remember exactly how I did, but I remember it was UCI one day and not the other. I think the UCI day I was duking it out with Myerson and ended up getting away from him last lap. The other day I think I let some air out and made the podium. I've generally had good races here. '08 I led the whole race only to get passed by Driscoll in the last bit of the last lap. '09 I won both days. Well things are a bit different now. I'm not on top of my game and it seems like the UCI fields have filled in. The top is still where it was, but the gaps between the top and the rest seem to have filled and the field size has grown. That gap is where I lived in '09. At the full on races I would just dangle off the back of the top. If the tippy top wasn't there I usually had an easy win. I'm not fit enough to live in that gap now even if it still existed. I'm not sure where I'm going to live this year. So far I know where I'm going to live before the gun goes off.....the back row. Since I am pointless, according to the UCI at least, I have to draw a number out of a hat for start position. My best so far is 5th from last called to the line. So day one I was again able to get in the game off the back row, but I struggled and faded throughout the rest of the hour. Day two I made a long slow push from the back row to 10th. I was OK with that mostly because it was an improvement. Up until now when the pedals needed to be pushed, it was just quicksand. Well I have never seen quicksand, so maybe it was like mud, cause I know exactly what that is like. Day two of GMCX was the first time I felt like I could push a little into the red. Good sign toward improvement.

Rochester season opener

Well, that happened. The fears I mentioned seemed to be at least somewhat a reality. My legs didn't do a great job with the pedaling and I did start last row both days behind a sizable field. It wasn't the full top ten field I worried about and my wrist wasn't too bad...so I had that going for me. Day one I was able to get around most everybody and wedge myself up into 4th on first lap, but that soon took its toll and I was on damage control, fading to 9th by the end of the hour. Day 2 I got boxed in and couldn't get around in the start and had to work my way through the line. I did make it to the back of the large lead group of like 10, but again faded fast. During a moment of weakness I decided that riding below my potential was not worth riding at all and put a DNF next to my name. Not proud of that, but anyway, moving forward....

letter

Dear legs,

I regret having to send this letter, but enough is enough. Maybe you never got the memo. Or maybe you just forgot because it doesn't feel like autumn yet and in your defense, it has been quite a while. So let me take this opportunity to remind you that we are supposed to be a bike racer now. Actually, it was supposed to be a week ago and due to your absense, beard and hands were hung out to dry. I have to wonder how you failed to notice how hands were out practicing for bike driving and beard was filling out in preparation for the coming season. What have you been doing? I have supplied you with all the tools you should need to succeed. Hard training, long rest, but you don't seem to take the hint. Well, moving forward, we have a long job ahead of us and it's going to be much longer if you continue to fail at your part of the bargain. Unfortunately I have to put you on the spot. If you don't get it together I am going to have to reconsider your involvement at this facility.

Sincerely your's
Bike Racer Dan