Radio Freddy, you are my kindred soul blog but Beer Frites and Waffles is my evil twin blog. Good stuff. I'd give it an 8 of 10 for solid time wasting. Any human that could...

a) find a picture of Bart Wellens on a pair of panties
b) appreciate the fact he found or was part of the picture taking exercise of Bart on a pair of panties
c) is possibly the person in this picture NEAR the pair of panties with Bart Wellens on them being worn on the outside of an invariably drunk woman's pants

...is a sick kindred soul/evil twin of mine any day.

Friggin good.

'Cross on.

Tonight was the 5th Boulder Racing STXC race and my 2nd. Fairly big pro field again and the conditions were way better than the first time. The heat and dust were way down. The light rains helped that.

Colin B did a fantastic job with this course tonight. Tight and twisty...very BMX-y. Fast where it needed to be but did not favor roadies by any means (more on that later). Tons of 180 degree turns to power out of and lots of places where you needed some serious MTB expertise to know exactly what gear to be in....especially this "V" apex that has you going big ring/12 down and a radical swing up. Gear selection was huge.

Warming up the body felt decent, the mind was into it, the vibe was great and tons of my friends were there. Golden. Then, I saw some dude in the Cat 3's wash out and face plant so violently (his head schwacked the ground and bounced) that I felt my sphincter pucker.

The pro men line up and we proceed to wait. I started on a HUGE front row line with like 20 dudes. Then about 3 rows behind me. Big field. My start was decent like top 10 and I am still trying to control myself and not blow my wad trying to take out holeshots (at least not yet until I can handle the repercussions of that exertion) and practice settling in. The usual suspects were there, Colby Pearce, Mike West, The WB looked good and the gaggle of Trek factory guys in their fairly bling white Nikes. Very PRO.

Then, the crashes started.

In lap 2 of 6, like 3 roadies wash out. I pick my way around them, literally bunny hopped one. This kid whom I've seen training on the road from San Jose. San Jose kid is strong and bridges back to me and drops me. Lap 3 or 4 my bro Troy takes a digger (Tuba I hope you are OK man! I looked for you after thee race! My heart was in my throat when you crashed else I would've shouted at you. Looked nasty). I dodge that and continue on. Bell lap. San Jose kid who crashed in front of me YET AGAIN goes down this time bad. Not moving. Face in the dirt. I stop, Colin B stops tons of spectators come in. He moves a bit so we're off. Honestly, my legs are turning again but my head was so out of the game. I hear the bell in the back and it wakes me up. I swear to you it was like that scene in Saving Private Ryan...that beach scene when Tom Hanks gets shell shocked then comes to when some kid is yelling at him. Kind of like that. The bell was the kid yelling at me.

I finished strong-ish and can't complain. The WB continues to be better than rock solid. Amazing. I thought he pulled out the W tonight but I think he podiumed. So strong. SO MANY ROCKY MOUNT'ERS out there cheering tonight. Rad. THANK YOU! Boups and Longman in particular. So rad to hear you. The spit coming out of my mouth was preventing me from saying thank you while racing.

Longman was snapping the photos tonight as was Joe Strandell of Peloton Photo. He'll have those posted tune so keep an eye out.

Some of Longman's handiwork. Thanks mate!

Colavita's Davide Frattini is staying at my hombre's Bobby's casa while training here in Boulder. Bobby just does stuff like this. You need something: Bobby offers. Unconditional. The universe gives you a big wet kiss, Bobby.

OK, so big deal. If you fart in this town, chances are a pro's gonna smell it there's so many here getting their training on. But what is so special about Mr. Frattini? Cross, baby. He's goin' Enrico Franzoi on us and waving the Italian flag at cross WK's and WC's. You go Davide. Homie pulled of a UCI win here in the states last year at the Verge in Beacon. Good times.

Do like Davide...and Not This.

Davide's got himself a bloggy blog as well. You go Davide. Welcome to zee Republic, Davide.

Capt Swiggco (Paul Sadoff) of Rock Lobster Cycles who has made my CX bikes for time ad infinitum got himself interviewed on Plus One Lap, another great 'cross focused blog. Paul has been building bikes longer than some of you who read this have been alive....and CX bikes for most of that time. He tells us 'back in the day' stories of Santa Cruz when Keith Bontrager and others woudl commune on bike building, rides, etc and you can see how the influence has permeated all of their collective designs. Have a read.

7 months until Mol. Preparations are forming. Smiles happening. Gotta get the double bike case carrier, UCI license, jet tix to Brussels, and so on, etc. Can not wait. Filtering through files, I found some old photos and got all nostalgic an such. Surf City. I remember racing for the first time in 97 when I moved to CA. I literally got sick in my chamois. Even with that shellacking, the bug was there though from that day and still is.

The Surf City and Central Coast races were epic. Beautiful scenery and the race organizations were spectacular. Racing every weekend with the level of riders being faced taught me lots. Moving to CO was like an "11" if the Bay Area was like a "10" in terms of retardedly fast speed of the competitors but it prepared me well. The Republic is a fish bowl you know. Now I am going to go to Belgium and get the snot kicked out of me but I swear to you I will fight until I grind the teeth out of my head.

If'n you get the chance, check out this old homie's site, Hans Kellner. Old Sycip rider, friend and mad videographer. He's actually got video of the race above. You have to CLICK HERE to access this vid though (the thing to the right is only a screen capture). Check out the vids of the DFL races as well. They were EPIC. You raced for free if you wore a dress. (yes that's me in the pretty green one).

If I get the chance, I want to head back and do some racing out West this season. We'll see. The scene was great and I miss it occasionally. The old bros are there and it would be fun.

7 months. Looking forward to jumping over barriers.

Did a final day of climbing today to finish up the week. Boups and I hit Lee Hill to Jamestown Plus to Lefthand for sprints behind cooter-mobiles to repeats on Olde Stage. Compact day as it was all in our back yard. cracked 15 hundy on the PowerSlave again doing sprints but all is naught in comparison to Boups. Holy shnikees. He shows up on his Yeti cross bike this AM as he cracked his aluminum road bike (at the BB of course) with road tires affixed and a single ring 53 x 27. Yup. He proceeds to bury it up all this elevation today. Hilarious. Boups, get tested at BCSM kid. You're freakish.

West and weewaxashun for a couple a days and hopefully I can swing the STXC at Research this week. May not be able to but I am craving it again!

This little dude is as tough as nails. Maybe if he ate meat, he could develop some more power to hang with the Vervecken's and Pages of the world. Until then, his facial hardware and tattoos will have to suffice. I absolutely love this Cor Vos shot though grabbed from a great PezCycling article about young guns in the TdF.

If you get the chance and you are a Gadret fan, go to BobkeStrut and scope out his posts on John. Hilarious.

Jeremy Powers getting quoted in an article, Doping Center Stage at Tour de France.

"Pro rider Jeremy Powers, who has twice represented the U.S. at the world cyclocross championships as a member of the Jelly Belly team, sees nothing but positives in the union's pledge.

"Cycling is confronting the problem, unlike baseball and football," said Powers, who was raised in Niantic. "If you look at a guy like Jose Canseco or Barry Bonds, they've had very little consequences for their actions.

"Cycling is the exact opposite. Cycling has really confronted guys, given them bans. Cycling is doing the most testing of any sport. It's terrible to have to go through this, but once the new generation - my generation - starts coming up, it's going to be a new group of racers. We're going to have a different attitude about cheating and winning at all costs."

Thanks folks! The feedback is killer. Mike also sent me this picture of the new Yeti's pulley system (Jon from Moots, check this out):

The yoke looks interesting too. Not sure if it will be a mud trap or not. My Rock Lobsters are all super stiff without the yoke and no build up of mud:Thanks again for the comments on the last post!