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Endless Winter

Man oh MAN! Things are going OFF over there in the Mother Land. Geoff P's got the boys amped and racing hard....even with all of the crazy logistics and skewed travel plans many faced with planes missed, bikes not showing up, etc. Catching up on their blog, it's great to see Danny, Brady and the rest of the local boys throwing down. I race against Brady's dad (trust me....you know exactly where the genes come from if you should race against Mr. K). It's great to see them there giving everything. It is especially rad to see Tim Johnson there with the stars and bars. I would LOVE To see Cannondale rush a skinsuit to him so he doesn't look so bush league with the podium jersey he got at Nats. C'mon! So un PRO!

Sager's team mate Mitchell Peterson is there as well. He has a great race report here. Some observations:

Observation No. 1: Mitchell Peterson is the 2nd coming of Charlie Hayes.
Have you ever seen these guys together? Have you? Mitchell could be the spawn of the legend and my hero Charlie Hayes.
Observation No. 2: Mitchel is spanking Kamiel Van den Berg
I love this shot. Go lay the smack down on Kamiel, Mitchell. If you've seen it, Kamiel is the guy who on the 1st lap of the 2006 World Championships from The Netherlands who gives that group of jeering Belgium spectators the finger. After taking the hole shot, Kamiel implodes like a dying star on the 2nd lap. Ouch. So this whole shipment of Americans over to the Mother Land (including myself in a week!) is sort of like the Endless Summer....of the Winter variety. We are on a quest to catch the biggest and the best waves all for the experience. To really understand what this sport is about come good or come bad.

Tick tock tick tock.

NOT your Father's Chimay

Holy crap on a poop stick. I've found it...and all this time it's existed so near me...in the form of a dear friend who's SO PASSIONATE about making it! I can barely type as I type this. The beeer si tooo gud, and a wee bit alkeehawlik. My boy Hix gave me a Christmas present in the form of his home brewed "No Room at the Inn" Christmas style Blegian Ale. I just got around to opening it. In Hix's words:

It's a belgian christmas ale, so think affligem noel or st. bernardus noel.

Dark, caramel, a little sweetness, some spice, lots of "warming" alkyhawl. i didn't think it was going to be quite ready in time for christmas, but the one i opened last night was pretty danged tasty.

It will have a short-lived head and won't be terribly carbonated (high aklyhawl). i'm going to set aside some of it for 6+ months from now.

Verdict: ALL TRUE.

This is a man who Rides now a Ridley X-Night and MADE THIS BEER. I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!

Thank you my friend.

(And, no, I am not operating heavy machinery whilst imbibing).

(Yes this helps my recovery you weenies.)

Petition to USA Cycling for Kansas City Master's Race Issues

While I was not there to witness this first hand, I have been hearing about specific issues going on with respect to race logistics for the Master's categories at Kansas City. There is a petition circulating for people who were there/are interested in changing the logistics for next year. You may find that information and enter your 'e-signature'

>> HERE <<

Stylin

We got the Vito dialed in for pickup at the Brussels Airport. Pimp. They sent me a picture with my order confirmation:

Mmm. Eurotrash. Mmm.

Stocking Stuffers

Merry Christmas! What a picturesque day here in The Reepoobleek. It went from 20 degrees in the AM all the way to 50 degrees yesterday. But the mercury corrected itself today to a steady 20 degrees and snowing. It made for a very Bing Crosby-esque day.

Santa came and boy did he. All the little goodies to make a thirty something year old boy smile. Timmy would be proud that he brought a new coffee maker with some of the black goodness to boot.

On the bike tip, Santa knew that I am STILL with numbness in the very tips of my big toes still after the CX States earlier this month. While getting better, he knew that I needed some legit stuff to combat the cold gremlins, and so the stocking was stuffed with all the kindness one could hope for:

New Swix gloves, woolie socks and tons of these adhesive heat packet things Troy made a recommendation to get.

I used all of this new stuff today on my run and holy crap they work. In fact, it melted the snow off my shoes! It is the real deal and I wish I had them before States! They will be packed for Belgium fo' sure.

So now, we're just chilling in a sort of post present opening haze/hangover. Incredibly fun this AM with the boys being as old as they are now. I wish you and all of yours the absolute best Christmas!

Thanks for reading.

Observations of the Cannibal at Scheldecross

Hmm. Sven. The Cannibal Part Deux. Father. Husband. Crosser.

AND HE'S TOTALLY UN-PRO!

My God. First, he demonstrates crappy tape jobs wherein it is my opinion that his mechanic should have to work the pits without his Wellingtons for a day. Now this?? (queue in a record scratching horrifically...):
For shame, Sven. For shame.

See, Radio Freddy agrees with me that ya just gots to match that tape and that saddle. And if matched white? Mmmmm white. Very PRO. Call me OCD, but it would cause my skin to crawl with all that un-matchiness going on with my bike.

Get PRO Sven. quickly. You're losing points. Niels is taking you down you on the PRO tip.

Shark's teeth...

Mmmm. Indoor training.

Honestly 'cross fans, after yesterday's sufferfest on the Poorest man, I could not envision getting all my crap on again to brave the sub arctic temps raging here at the moment. Although the day ended up getting 'balmy' to about 34 degrees, I needed to focus today on the workout how the body is feeling....and not the weather surrounding me. I've got enough of that and will have even more in the Motherland in January. And so, I finished my 2nd to last block indoors....at Rally Sport. Home to the fittest soccer moms in the country and less-than 4% body fat tri-psychos....who honestly scare the living bejesus out of me. Today required a deep simulation of a course I would normally do on the road....e.g. a Fruit Loops of the indoors. What I needed was deep sustained power with peppered with high thresholds and tempo mixed in to bridge a flat land speed work out with that of being mired in the mud....or sand. When going through the shark's-teeth like profile I created for myself today, I was envisioning the sandy beach on Mol and what I think it's gonna take to get through it, lap after lap. In my best PowerPoint, this is how I would break down what was going on:
About minute 60 I am certifiably cross eyed. I start thinking of the past 365 days this year. I start thinking that I am so blessed to do this...but will in all sincerity not see this level of focus for a long time to come. I'm not 'PRO'. I can;t believe what people who call cycling their jobs have to do day in and out...and I've mapped something like this, this year...of course beau coups % points below the average PRO requires. The family and most things in my eco-system just will not sustain it again next year. But for now...game on. I think of how happy I am with having been able to pick a point in the distance....put an indelible 'X' on it and not waver from it. That X is Belgium for me, and nothing has been able to blow it up. Nothing could have. What I thought of in that 60th minute today is how I long for my boys to do something like this when they come of age. I could give a crap if they did it on a bike, in a pair of hiking shoes, with a paintbrush and easel...whatever. It's about the journey not the destination....and frankly the destination is sort of irrelevant. It's the journey showing you, you CAN do something if you are committed. I said as much to my wife today as she caught in a moment of hallucination at Rally.

What are you going to do next year, folks? Go to Belgium? Get more proactive about calling your mom and dad? Get involved with your kids school more? Try and upgrade from your current category? Eat better? Laugh more? Work less?

Live better.
Live fuller.
Live more creatively.
Live with blood in your veins, not vinegar.

God, the journey. Sick. Write it down/pin it up/look at it every day. It'll happen.

Seriously, what's yours going to be?

Have fun 'cross fans.

Mini Bart got his today

I saw that Mini Bart (where Wellens is Big Bart) got his today at Huybergen. I am stoked for that. That little mofo is tenacious. Of the embarrassingly obscene 100's and 100's of hours of 'cross vids I've studied, that guy is always in the mix...typically in the top 5 until the 50th minute when Sven drops everyone on the 2nd to last lap and goes on to usual win and Bart's wings fall off.

What's interesting about this guy is that he's been at it for some time now. He nipped Colorado's Walker Ferguson at the 2000 Cross Worlds...but both beat some current names that day like Enrico Fanzoi (bronze at Worlds last year), Klass Vontornout (won his first Elite the other day) and others. That was a solid class of Juniors.

Touch my iliotibial. Touch it.

So now that I am past this CO 'cross season, I'll let a cat out of the bag (no excuses though!): I have been suffering tremendously through this crazy IT band issue since the early Fall. Crazy shooting pain in my glutes and my tibialis anterior....all on the left leg. It's so f'd up: I'll be riding along (racing really...so I am definitely under pressure) and it's like a light switch turns on: Shooting pain in my ass cheek and in my lower leg followed by a near immediate decrease in power. I mean like only the right leg can turn it over. Eventually things come 'round again but I always have ground to make up because of it.

So last night I go over to Bliss' house to discuss some 'cross business related to a non-profit he's architecting (note: you will all be affected positively by this if we get it off the ground!!! **), and his wife Michelle, my team mate, over hears us talking (OK, me bitching) about this problem. With all the training these days it is flaring up too so it's fresh on the mind. First thing John says: "Get on the floor." He then whips out his (get your mind out of the gutters you perverted monkeys...) foam roller and shows me what to do. "MOTHER PUS BUCKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I scream as I roll like he showed me and my IT band starts to smash and get worked on this foam machine of death. Unbelievable. At this moment Michelle says: "OK, get on the table...". Ah, team mates. Michelle is an unbelievable talented physio-therapist. She begins her treatment and gasps as she starts o feel about: "Holy crap, I could lift you straight up with this IT band!". Not good. She goes to work.

"Jesus HELP ME!"

"Lord, please God have mercy"

"Holy Mother, save me."

I am acting for contrition right there on that table. Pain. "AH, you're a screamer, aren't you?" says Michelle sadistically. Twenty minutes later she finishes up and I feel like I am on drugs. Her work is in.

Now mind you, this WHOLE season I could have helped myself. I run, I train, I do skills....and not once did I take care of the muscles...even with Ward prophetically hounding me to see his guy months back. So with a pat on the back and the Bliss family handing me the IT foam roller as I left their beautiful home last night, they suggest I get some more work done before Belgium to get things re-aligned and back on track.

That said, Michelle's work did some goodness for me today! Today the 'poor man' showed no mercy. Sub 20 temps and snow and ice, the prescription was a set of intervals that sincerely should be tasked to prisoners of war. Good but cold suffering. The last one did put me in cross-eyed mode and randomly Bliss shows up on the last one....maybe to secretly check in on me...to laugh a bit as he's in fun mode now.

More depth tomorrow. Sweet dreams.

Jealousy

My blogging home girl Rebecca Wellons is ALREADY IN BELGIUM. Jealous. She's got some great blog post action so read up on the invasion of Americans we are sending over to dethrone and neutralize the Belgian stronghold on our sport. OK, maybe our so called invasion is more like the "Balloon Bomb" invasion of the Pacific Coast of the US in Double-ya Double-ya Two and less a frontal assault. To have an effect, we need to be all Pagey-like and live there I guess and ultimately take 'em out guerrilla style.

Rebecca is staying in the same location as the one Brandon Kurt and I will be at in a few weeks time. I think Rebecca and crew's racing schedule will be done by the time we get there but send her some blog comments to bring it to the Belgies!