Cross Season Halfway House

The cross season has reached the halfway house here in the heart of the continent and it's time to reflect the first 4 races. I continue to suck more and more every year, so at least I'm not standing still. The young punks are becoming faster and in combination of me sucking, it's a downward spiral and it's getting steeper all the time. Future of cycling wasn't looking too good here 6-7 years ago, but with the growth of cyclocross and good people in right places, this thing might be going somewhere. Dark Cross ( www.darkcross.ca ) is getting bigger and Now there's even talk about CX nationals in Winnipeg. MB kids are going to CX world cups and other big races and there is a good size group of devo kids coming up. Warms the heart of this old bugger.

Hang on...can't tupe wihut hving a bäää.

Better...

Beer also assists to come up with big plans that may or may not realize. But beer also distracts, so I need to go glue my tubular and get to my video games.

New Whip

Some finishing work left to do, like washing the rims, but a new bike regardless. It's nice...

Dark Cross and DXover

It was Christmas in September again last night. Dark Cross 2013 did good job in fine art of one uppery with fireworks, fire dancers, the band Crooked Brothers, DJs and awesome crowd, volunteers and racers. Comments were made that only thing Cross Vegas has over Dark Cross is more spectators...I like to think it's quality over quantity though.

The racing was good, more racers than before and weather was perfect. The young kids are becoming faster every year and have great attitude. DRR took the podium at womens race and at mens race Cricket lost his second spot on the last lap, but managed to take third. I'm sure others have more detailed race reports coming up.

But guess who came home with us from the Red River Co-op Speedway?

 

Got help painting the house

  

Then we barbequed some burgers.

  

And of course we had some beverages, the hipster kind.

 

Sounds, part 2.

To follow-up on the rally car sound post from last year, and inspired by kids riding sports bikes, and as discussed at the last TNR, below are some clips of motorcycles from the era when fast guys rode fast motorcycles. Today fast motorcycles are conveniently available at the price per day equivalent of a large latte and come with an exhaust sounds clinically tested to melt the buttons on teenage chicks' jeans.

Need to check ebay for MV Agusta race bikes. I get along with my neighbors little too well.

Counting Down the Days

Since my vicarious racing team is sucking old man's balls, I need to take matters into my own hands and transport myself to the race course to get myself silly drunk and do a Belgian drunken lounge to try and encourage my virtual team riders to either try to ride their bikes or get their arses off the course and stop embarrassing themselves any further. This is still another 16 sleeps away, so I have plenty of time to get my plan together. Unfortunately I will have my family on tow, so I probably need to park somewhere on one spot rather than see the race at 15 spots between beer refills. Anyway. We'll fly to Amsterdam on 28th, meet up with some friends, rent a car and drive down to Oudenaarde to see the race. It should be OK.

I have not been updating my blog for both of you readers, and I must apologize for that. Full-time job does take its time and limit the time available for spare time activities. In other words....I'm lazy as foock.

What else....I got my man cave finished and LED screen hung on the wall. Who cares if some cover plates are missing!? I also have my trainer set in the basement, but since I insulated 50% of the walls, it's getting bit too warm for training down there. I could probably start some sort of shotty DIY blog soon. It's a good space for training though and I have my trainer set-up for the next two weeks, so I can get my 10 hours of winter training in.

Now pardon me. It's my weekly 45 minutes of alone time for enjoying my beer and listening to some old fark music.

p.s. I will post some RVV photos soon.

Winter, day 278

So what to do on a winter day in NW Ontario bush? They tell you to come out and play.

C'est Fantastique

As a follow-up on a previous post. Them old farts have some fast in their blood.

Needless to say that my riding or any sport activity for that matter has been minimal recently.


Quand Ari rencontre la nouvelle Aston by GQFrance

EPIC

The word epic gets tossed around lot nowadays on blog posts, tweets and other forums, where all kinds of self-lovers like to tell the world what they have or haven't done or thought about doing recently. Epic is often used as an adjective to describe a bike ride. However, quite often a ride is referred to as an epic ride before it has even happened. This is like predicting some completely unpredictable future event and while at it, I would like to have next weekend's lotto numbers. In my opinion you can't predict epic, plan epic or make epic. You can definitely choose actions that are known to be favorable in creating circumstances for epic ride, such as riding 200 km, but just riding 200 km doesn't mean that it's epic. If it's something that you can potentially replicate every weekend, it most likely is not epic. Epic ride can also happen completely unexpectedly in most unfavorable circumstances. In my books epic is not easy, safe and/or always fun.

I will go for an epic ski in a bit after Melissa comes home from her epic run. Just kidding, for me an epic ride is like fine wine, making of it is kinda messy and not really that much fun, but it does get better as time passes and eventually you actually think that you enjoy it. I've never puked or have eaten frozen apples during or have eaten strawberry jam with a spoon after making wine though, but all of the above have happened during or after a ride that may be called epic. I'm getting older though and know when to stop before things get too epic.

That Smug Winter Thing

There is no match in smugness to XC skiing. There's a very specific set of rules to the whole thing and I'm not too sure I meet any of these rules. The HC group of XC skiers, also known as norwads, smells the rule breakers from mils (no spelling error here, mil = 11 km) away and do not hesitate to give stink eyes to pariahs. One major mistake is to drive a vehicle other than Subaru or VW. It is also easier to become a mensa member than a norwad, but a good way to get accepted by the community is to use wooden skis, wear wool shirts, carry a backbag (Fjällräven gets extra points) or actually be a real norwegian.

Anyway, I headed into the norwad nest today for my first ski outing. It turns out that I didn't learn to ski over the summer this year either. It was quite a torture fest like the first time often is.

Hopefully the weather cooperates this winter.

Went out for a quick boot with little hoot too and she had learnt some skiing over the summer.

Someone Turned the Ski Season On

Now where can I find packed trails?

Rooster Ride

Since there was no racing this weekend, and I felt like I can delay my basement re-finishing project by at least another day, we went for a ride on Saturday. It was good times and I managed to show some of the Roosters some routes in the good end of town. There were some new trails, some abandoned plans due to absolutely brutal trails, some rednecks and some gunshots of course. I didn't take any photos because I was, you know, riding my bike for the most time. 

Mrs. Hoot was kind enough to cook some chili for our after ride gathering around a bonfire and that wrapped up a good day. 

Dave mentioned that we should do this more often and maybe without the beers after. That sounds awful lot like training, but I may be talked into silliness like that. Let's see what happens next weekend...

CX Provincials and Other Stuff

You know that the end if nigh when you line up to race CX provincials. Not the best day for me, but my Dark Red Racing brothers and sisters did much better and helped save the day for The Rooster.

Normally I would do OK on the course with plenty of pedaling, but this year, and today especially, that is not the case. To make things worse, I woke up to stomach cramps that at least affected my already fragile race day morale. Old dog can't learn new tricks so I had to start fast, which seemed to work OK after the first lap, but then the reality of me having Sven's arms but my very own legs struck, and I could not answer to the acceleration from Daniel. I had to ease back a bit for 1/2 lap or so and that didn't help. Then it was status quo for the next 20 minutes, Daniel leading so far that I didn't see him any longer, Dan M. chasing, Cricket third and me fourth trailing Cricket a bit and closing in. I had to let Cricket go with 2 to go and take it easy for the rest of the race. Anyways...Daniel did well as did Cricket and Chris and others. Good job!

Now onto my next topic of the day. Group B exhaust sound that is. Just let my slip into my Labatt 50 drinking vest for more appropriate attire for this...

This is artsy fartsy French movie of Ari Vatanen doing Pike's Peak Hill Climb in a Peugeot 205 Group B rally car sometime in golden 80's. Sure there are more powerful cars nowadays, but these 80's monsters with stick shifting and the driver doing it all is bit different.

 

This video is quite cool as well, but still missing something. That something is probably the sould and who's this driver anyway? Does his last name end -nen? I didn't think so so what else does he have what may make him a rally driver?

And the back to topic. Since we have only one race left this season, I was thinking about putting my money where my mouth is and organizing a ra...spirited training ride on November 3rd. Thinking about starting from my place sometime in the afternoon, 2-4 PMish and riding north on the west side of the river and towards BHP. Racin....riding for 3 hours or so and finishing back in the city. Bonfire, BBQ and maybe some beverages for recovery. They're saying the world is coming to an end this year so we may as well ride while waiting for this event.

Altona, The Jewel of The South, But Not Too South

It's like being a kid in a candy shop, on Christmas, with Mickey Mouse. Altona Southern Cross is just a big kid version for old dudes who like to inflict discomfort on themselves. OK, there are bunch of young lads who appear to have good time inflicting discomfort on old dudes as well.

It's always a spectacle in Altona and this year was no different. 233 racers and the prize ceremony at the curling club equals good times. The attitude towards sports seems to be completely different from Winnipeg and the town actually welcomes bike races and racers. In some places, actually engaging in sporting activities is considered a good thing, and in others it's more about watching others perform sporting activities.

Anyway, the racing was good, as always. Didn't really feel too too awesome, which has been the theme lately, but managed to hang in there and didn't lose too much to Chris "the wunderkind" Prendergast. Some snow would have helped the old legs, but no luck this time. Dave C was up there for a while, but got gapped in the sand I guess. The young guys are quite fast, which is good for the sport.

Altona also has its own version of Roubaix velodrome showers. But the recovery nutrition is very familiar, maybe too familiar...

First Snow, Beach Cross

+30 last weekend and +5 with snow on the ground this weekend. Such is October in Manitoba. Cross races also changed from dry powdery conditions to mud. As little that I like watering the race courses, I don't actually mind when mother nature decides that it's time to race in snow, rain or mud.

Most of the regulars were there and previous races had "prepared" the course for A start. I didn't feel too awesome before the start so I wanted to start easy. That plan soon failed and I ended up starting bit too hard. I ended up yo-yoing for the first 30 min or so before I had figured out the course and recovered a bit again. Found myself in second spot towards the end and then Dan Morwood had some mechanical trouble and I took the lead with two to go. So for the last two laps I had to keep an eye on charging Don, but managed to hold the gap.

It was a nice race and especially the run up kicks butt.

Now Something Completely Different

OK...This is quite different with a strong red neck tone. But what are you supposed to do when, as a young lad, you get dragged into dark wilderness, in pissing rain. All you have to eat are cheapest barbeque sausages (if you're lucky they're actually barbequed) and all you have to drink is Keltainen Jaffa. The co-convictees are extremely hammered older men who have escaped their blue collar occupations for the weekend. You're almost certain of your untimely death, you're freezing and a healthy snot is hanging off your nose. Then you start to hear the distant...ba..baaa....baaap....babababarrr.....baaaaaa.brrrraaaa.... and you're not quite certain what it is. Then it gets louder and the passed out guy in a patio chair next to you comes back to life, but you can't quite understand what language he is speaking. Then it starts to get louder...BAAARGH!! BAM BAM.....BAAAA..BAAAA..BAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH...BA...BA...BA...BAAAA....Then it gets fricking massive noise, filling the entire forest with roar and exhaust backfire noise. Then you see the car appear around the corner and your ears feel like bleeding and the car looks like it will take off onto its course on the orbit any second. This keeps going for the next 10 minutes until it's time to start the trek back towards the Opel Kadett that is parked at least 50 km away and you know that you won't be able to make it back alive. It sucked so bad, but you had asked and begged and begged some more to go so you suck it up and do the hike in you're wet rubber boots. You don't know it at that time, but you're scarred for life and there is no known cure for the condition...you will probably remember this the day you die.

Don't believe me? Well see for yourself. You don't see any crashes in this video, because "these guys have massive balls of cast iron that keep the center of gravity so low that these cars cannot be flipped".

Agent Smith in the black helicopter took down the first video, but luckily the geeks are awake. I feel quite a redneck right now....

 

CX Season in Full Swing

The Dark Cross update is still in the works, so I'll just fast forward to this weekend and race #3.

If first two races were new additions to MB calendar, today's Mennocross (www.mennocross.ca) is more of a classic. Venue is familiar Mennonite University and this year the course was much dryer than ever before. The Dark Side race course crew had brewed up a nasty leg breaker with a new stair run up on the bunker and of course the Flyover. They also ordered a +27 day for this race, which was not cool in any way. I had to wear the brand new sausage suit, so the fat was definitely crying under the late September sun. The race itself started fastish thanks to yours truly, trying to establish a lead group and help Cricket get there without burning too many matches. Then I basically blew a gasket and dropped to 8-10 spot for a lap or two and was thinking about calling it a day. I started recovering though and clawing my way back towards the lead. At the end I lost the 3rd spot by two bike lengths. I had no intentions of going that hard pre-race, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Cricket made it look easy and even crashed once on his way to top podium spot, probably for show.

Good times let me tell you!

Dark Cross 2012

It's been some time since the last time, but it's like riding a bike...right?

Dark Cross took place tonight. It was bleeping awesome, even if I sucked balls big time. Thank you for all those in attendance and let's one up this one next year.

I'll come up with something better soon.

1974 Honda CB 360

Getting old (slow). Need all the help I can find...

Tour of White(s)hell

Today's program, checking out the vacant lots. First was a shorter loop of just 8 km this morning, but I kept my eyes open and spotted the lot 1 that is for sale. This afternoon there is a bit longer cruise to see some bit more remote property along the 307 highway.

The road ride was less productive as there was only swampland as far as I can see. It was a nice friendly cruise for 85 km and much better training than sitting on my couch geeking bike gear and pro races.

Suitable reward for the days effort was a Michelob Ultra semi-beer because Lance would drink that if he would drink beer-like beverages. I did get some tasty stuff in form of Oso Negro coffee from BC as a souvenir from good friends. I think it's actually just coffee...seriously.

Racy Races

Time to pin the numbers again after skipping the first start of the season this morning at bleeping 7:30 AM. There's nothing like TTing in sub zero temps. I am trying a new warm-up for the afternoon start called concrete demolition. Large sledgehammer and hauling chunks of conrete are the core parts of this new method.

I did receive my license just yesterday and noticed that it didn't go quite as planned because there was no option for UCI category in online registration, but the license of course needs to list a UCI cat. So my UCI cat says elite instead of old fart, that can pick and choose in which cat to race. Doesn't really matter, as my racing plans will probably fall through again this summer.

I was looking at some training camp options this spring. Those who do stuff such as training around here travel down to Tucson. Apparently they really like it there, but based on the photos it looks like Spain off the coast, so not really that appealing option. The flights are also bit pricey at $800-900. Other option I was looking at was a camp in Mallorca, flights are same price or even cheaper, hotels are cheaper and lets face it, the island is almost as good as it gets for road riding. The downside of Spain is the long flight and jetlag. I need to put some more thought to this for next spring. Too bad any option costs an arm and leg when you live in Winnipeg.

Any jobs open in Holland or Belgium? Riding is not too bad all year round and flights to Mallorca or Italy cost next to nothing.

Addition:
 That was a productive day. First this in the morning...
 

 And then this in the afternoon...