Yum, frickin, yum. Today was a delicious taste of the sensations of Fall. Crisp and cool. Slightly wet tacky. Leg warmers and under shirts. Yum, cross is here.

AC2 and I got out for skills this AM. He's Belgian to the core. Late to bed last night after sewing up gunshot wounds in Aurora (a lovely Denver suburb), homie was out with me at Elks skills-honing while dog owners watched us, heads tilted in a 'huh' sort of way. "Why don't you just stay on that bike?" she says after watching us march up and down the field on/off/on/off/on/off-ing. Hilarious. Pics:

AC2 philosophizing on the merits of Dugast versus FMB.

A small stream of vomit can not be seen but its there

Czech candy

The brake pads are d-i-a-l-e-d now and the Dug's hooked nice in the mud.

Went down to Amante today to snoop on who's 'crossdified and salivating this early in the pre season. Baker shows up with his beautiful little son Axel in the Burley (OK, check, he's geeked up already as much as I am if he's prowling!), Taro, Lane and some team Haul-n-Ass bros. Small, but cozy.

On the ride over, good to catch up with Baker. He is living the dream and moving family and life to Brugge and going to throw his hat in the world ring this cyclocross season....fully Belgium style. My mini trip for 10 days is a logistical needle in his giant haystack of preparations to live this out. Sick.

We hit up Elks, set up the Port-O's and got it on for a few laps. Just enough intensity for me on what is a very low key week for me. The body responded unbelievably. So, we'll see....

Change subjects: CROSS CLINIC PART DEUX:
For Boulder cross geeks, would Friday AM early be OK to do another round? I'm thinking 7:30 AM. Comment back if you are interested. Last time we did barrier work, this time I am thinking about porting techniques. This may have to wait till next week though.

We had a great showing this AM at the first CX clinic at Elk's. We had some really great folks out there who are 'cross crazy. Essentially, we did a 1 hour 45 minute overview of my little 'system'. Basically a mind dump of all the little shitr I've learned and practice myself. Today was all in relation to barrier work wherein we learned:

• Phase 1: getting off the bike and all its little nuances.
• Phase 2: getting through the barriers properly and quickly
  
• Phase 3: the infamous remount and how it is learned at sloooow speed.

This is how we repeated the drills after we learned them and before we threw together some hot laps.

Some stills of the crew gettin'er done...

I'm throwing a free clinic for a couple of hours on Sunday at Elk's in Boulder. Feel free to come and get your cross on. We'll be doing some very specific barrier technique training to attempt avoiding looking like 'za ugly amerikan'. smooth is good and will help you enjoy your 'cross more.

See ya at 10 if'n yer interested.

Note that you do NOT have to be an RM'er! If you care to learn a bit and have some fun, join in. MTB's are fine, just remove the bar ends and bottle cages.

I love being back in the 'old home' of San Francisco. The work tip is intense these last few days but the head is staying together. I still manage to get in what I need to get in in terms of sensible 'training'...when I need to have my head in the work game but still need to keep the coals stoked in the furnace. The runs around here are epic and you drink the oxygen. Big difference from 6ooo feet.

More fun this weekend with some team CX clinics and some throw downs with the fellas. I am salivating. I just want to get going.

Mol seems so far away but it I realize it is coming quick. The planning is coming along and dear buds are considering making the trek....even if to help pit. Beer in hand, yelling at me lap after lap.

The ACA's schedule has been up but I printed this mo fo out and tacked 'er up on the wall. Motivation. On the bars, more motivation. So many races put on by so many good people in this area. 'Crossers to the core. Ken B: comin' to Gunni, man. Apparently I can not race ANY UCI's in the "Elite" fields if I plan on participating in Masters Worlds. I'm confirming that with USA Cycling but WTF?? How else are we going to beat those Belgies?

SF this week so running of the sea level kind. Lots of work to be done so the stress management will be key. I'll wanna suck down beer to numb the mind but now' snot the time. Monk-style for the time being. The other folks on the team thin k I'm a freak.

Weekend? Timmy is Jedi mind tricking me into the Eldora Escape on the 1 x 1. Dunno. We'll see how the mind and family is when I get back.

Boups and I hit Elks this AM on the early tip. We set up the port-o's and got on with it. The Dugasts were S-I-C-K. So good. I carried them on my back over to Elks. God forbid they touch pavement too much.

So let me just state this for the record: If you are a 3, you better be training to hold Boup's wheel this season. Retarded power. I am making it my mission to smooth this guy out in what will be his second season of cross and put pain to the masses. I think it will be fairly short time before the Open's comes a callin' for him. Boups: One, two, slide lift brother. Make 'em work for it.

...and been curing in my dark cold basement since last week. Gonna fill 'em up and take them to Elk's tomorrow AM to do some hot laps on 'em. Gots to make sure all the stuff id dialed before Breck kicks off the season.

If'n yer in Boulder, meet me at Elks at 7:40!

Alright, "Seattle's Finest." After being inspired by watching his nemeses in Seattle get rad and all 'cross like at a ridiculously young age, my 3 year old decided to start training. Look out world:

What did YOU do to get ready for 'cross today> This 3 year old is getting 'er done.

Pain. Even with all my CX focused training, the pain was nice and present this AM. The super secret society of cyclocross freaks got up for our throw down this AM. 7:30 AM. Lots of dirt road power with attacks and the like. Make note to self. Do not attack Brandon and think you've got the gap and dropped him. Stupid me.

We essentially beat the crap out of each other for an 1:45 this AM throwing in mad 200ft run ups along the way for good measure. I like where I am at though. The body responded and I was in control and know where I need to improve. Brought smiles to my face, even in the light of feeling like I was going to sully my chamois.