SIGH todays music for you

Moody, fast, chilly breeze of an album. It's time to open the flu and put some logs on the fire. The clocks are getting knocked back, so it means riding in the darkness. I'm locked and loaded, a little lit, and ready for the second half of the cross season.

'tucky blue grass

Two days of USGP in Louisville, Me, Chad and Nick. Day one. I had a big beer, and then I came in 8th. Meet super fan,

who gave me a PBR. Day two, after some discussion, it was agreed that at the start of my race, I was going to move up from my 4th row starting position, and go to the front of the race. The gun went.
By the time we left the pavement onto the cement, I was sitting in 4th, behind a team of three. Two blocking and one slowly pulling away. Then the leader's bike (and him) flipped upside down, and he stock-car-ed it, I went off the front. Yeah, Me! I finished 14th, nuf. Made lots o' ZOOM, PBR shout outs from fans along the course. Later we played some beach volley ball in the sand pit, the Kona team and me kicked, Nick, Chad, Tim Johnson, and J. Powers team's ass. It was really funny when Trebon spiked the ball off of Chad for the match point. Poor Chad has a big contusion on his arm, he should be OK by the Fairhill race.


Nick's & Chad's compiled "Quotes" of the weekend;

"All ghetto crossers in the back." Willy Elliston after realizing him and Steevo were the only racers with clinchers.

"Don't waste the Highlife!" D. Lowe telling Chad that he shouldn't add Highlife to the crap Double I.P.A. they bought from Bluegrass Brewing Company.

"Another sweet tea sir?" our Mexican waiter asking Dave if he wanted another 32oz mug of beer

"God this beer is awful , but it f's your brain up" - In response to a sip of Bluegrass Brewing Homewrecker double IPA

"That is the best Pro team Jerseys out there" - Dude telling me he thought HZ/PBR pro team jersies were the best.

We felt PBR love from everyone! So many locals befriended us just because of PBR. It was great. Can't wait for the next big race weekend!



dlowe, nick and chad.

That is a hematoma (or how many times can you crash in one race?)

That is not my leg.

But I feel like by the time I wake up from last nights ER shift, It might.

Raced whirlybird today. Raced B. Felt like i was having a pretty charmed season so far, and was ready to have another good race.

The start went well, was in the first 1/3, came into the little downhill section before you turned up and into a set of barriers 180 degrees, when I was sliding on my ass downhill. this did not hurt, but I lost a few spots.

Held it on the second lap, then rolling through an innocuous section, I was on my ass again, but slid sideways, right on to my left hip. this hurt. Slowly got back on to bike, wtched 8 people pass me cause it hurt to pedal, then got going again. Was chasing hard to gt back on, carried speed into a fallaway turn when I was down again. Hard. On the hip I just fell on. Got wind knocked out of me. Down. Wasn't moving. Then Thor (Louis S.) found me, grabbed my bike, put the chain back on, yelled "get up you pussy"...so I pedaled off...slowly..

You get the drift. A total disaster. I fell another 3 times, for a total of six crashes. In one race.

I fell on turns

I crashed in the circle of death

I crashed twice on straightaways.

Like Ricky Bobby says, Rubbin' is Racin

Thats the beauty of cross...theres always next week. See ya at fair hill....If I can walk I will ride.

The Pain Face

Some might say, I am a handsome man. Some might even say, I am so pretty its a curse. Trust me they do.

However there is one time when I lose all my prettiness, cyclocross racing. My race face is twisted like a contortionist from Circus du Soleil. I don't do this on purpose. I don't practice making funny faces while riding my bike. It just happens.

Racing this weekend at Granogue and Wissahickon was no exception. 

To the left is a picture of me leaving for my high school prom.  Handsome, I know.

Below is picture of me recovering 3 days after cyclocross racing this weekend.

Music for Now

well I listen to lots of music, so I'll try to get some interesting music up here, on a regular basis, for you to check out. Today's band is Absentee cheers.

dlowe

Erik and Nick rocking the PBR

Wissahickon Rockin'

and a bunch of photos....

Erik Mithcell earned his upgrade points, to full fledge Cylcocross Rock star. Cross is about the fans, the biffs on the barriers, crashing at full speed, being able to run and jump onto your bike, the BEER, and thank god the brief chance to live like a rock star. Earlier in the day today Erik did the B-race, did well, but it was not enough for him. As we sat under the HZ tent, me cracking a PBR, eating a veggie burger, I tried to convince him to join me. He would not! His intentions, to race the elite race.
The elite race soon started, I heard the roar come up towards the tent. A blast of air, dust, and a blur of eyes popping out of their head faces went quickly by. Chad, Nick and Erik were in there, with the fastest cross racers in America. I got my tired ass out of my chair and made it to the barriers run-up, after 5 or 6 laps I knew it was time. I saw Anthony and I knew he had deep pockets, I made my way to him and asked for a PBR, he dug in and pulled out a cold one. I went back to the run-up, and waited for Erik. He rounded the corner and was on his way. I leaned into the course tape, holding the PBR out, his eye caught the can, he shoulder his bike, cleared the barriers, and grabbed the beer.
Holding it high, while running, he took a good belt. Everyone was yelling, he sprayed the air, and dumped it on his head, drank the rest, jumped on his bike and was back off racing. Thus earning him an automatic upgrade to cyclocross rock star. On behalf of the entire HZ/PBR cross team, congratulations Erik.

Granogue, Dali, Wright bros. Cross

During the first lap of the Granogue cyclocross race, as the large pack of CYCLOCROSS RACERS headed around the back of the water tower, dust filled the air. The dry ground created a very fine mist. I took it in. I thought," I really want to remember this sight", these men churning up the soil. Old men racing bicycles. Riding road bikes in dirt with knobby tires. Yeah it all makes perfect sense.

I've spent so many hours riding my bike, working hard, just like all of you. Today made all the hard work worth it. People sometimes ask, if you could meet anybody who would it be? or if you could go back in time what time would you go to? Never had an answer, till today. I would want to meet the Wright brothers, ride one of their beautiful bikes.

and I would of loved to see the expression on his face when he landed the plane.
tomorrow Wissahickon's Ludwig Corner Cross race. cheers. dl

Mystical Wiss

I made it out to the park late last night to get some riding in on my cross bike, its been warm here so a nice misty fog had settled on the trail. My light beam lit up the little molecules of water hanging in the air, I got up to speed, the music was good and I hammered away into a vapor cloud training ride. I thought of The Flying Scotsman. I thought about how last weeks cross race, the Hillbilly Hustle v.3 was one of the most enjoyable races I had ever done. I thought about pushing a bigger gear, the bike was skipping across the trail, losing contact with the ground, I though about nothing and just enjoyed the speed I was able to make the bike go.


"The Cave of Kelpius"

I have always wanted to know more about the monks of the Wissahickon, I'm ordering the book "Woman in the Wilderness" by Jonathan D. Scott.




Made it again to Wissahickon, this morning for a ride with Anthony, got some MTB'ing in, tried out his new 69er, which is cool. and just in general had a nice time. cheers. dlowe

F' Trebon, Wicks, TJ, Powers, Wells, ect. We've got CHARLES!

I ended up 13th in the C race of the Hillbilly Hustle, but I beat everyone named Charles. There were 3 Charles' in the race. I had just caught a group of 4 sitting in top ten when I crashed in a tight right turn. Then I made the mistake of letting two guys get me at the end. Rookie mistakes.
Pulling a Erik Mitchel, I decided to hop in the B race and not get lapped. I was just barely successful at achieving that goal and did not come in last.
This race report makes me think of the Primus song, "Jerry was a race car driver, drove so goddamn fast, never did win a checkered flag, but he never came in last."
Charles

Stan's to the rescue

So Sunday at the Hillbilly Hustle I flatted on the last lap. Flats are a horrible consequence in any form of racing, but the last lap of a cross race just plain sucks. Worst yet when your running tubulars, $80 - $100 a tire when it goes flat at the beginning of the season sucks. That was until last year when I invested $10 in a little device from Stans No Tube. If you are a mountain biker then you have no doubt messed with Stans tire sealant before or at least your shop has setup a wheelset or two. Stans is amazing stuff and with the Injector kit, saves you the money and hassle of dealing with a new tire. It also makes the tire hold air for an extremely extended time. I put Stans in a tubular last December and it still had air it in June. So last night after I woke up from my post race meal coma, I injected the flat tire with a scoop of sealant. I went ahead and injected the other tire along with my spare wheelset. I pumped each tire to about 50psi and I'm glad to announce that each tire was rock hard this morning. Sealing up four wheels took me about 35 minutes and 1 beer. Well worth it if you ask me!

Later readers

Nick

Race preperations

I've slipped into my Kurta Pajamas, and cracked a couple of beers.

I'm a grip, sometimes I work hard, that's me on the left pushing the dolly. Maybe about a 60' run, tracking a guy throwing a javelin. We did the run a dozen or so times. Good cross workout, right? Well I like the standard stuff better, you know, intervals, tempo, skills. I got out on my cross bike today with Chad, putzed about, did some of those leg opening stuff, up the back side of parachute hill, cranking it up over the top and bombed down the chute and on to belmont plateau. A few efforts and I think I'm ready for the Hillbilly Hustle. My friend Kevin gave the Kurta PJ's, he also gave me some good advice, its simple, you gotta "believe you can do it", seriously, all them cow bells a ringing, recognizing your friends voice yelling you on, knowing that there is a red plastic cup of beer waiting for you, it all really helps.