Back on

After a week of nursing a sore throat followed by another week of hacking up a lung and sitting in meetings, I finally got back on the bike with hopes of salvaging the last few CX weekends.

The new Fisher Cronus hit the doorstep last Tuesday. After pounding out a 2 hour blitz on Friday morning with Bryan and Lucas and then an additional 3 hours on Sunday with the two Mike's, Brady, Bryan and Flanders, I can say the bike is a ripper. Noticeably stiffer than the Madone, maybe too stiff in some spots but more to come on that with pics.

Thursday, double D played another great show at the Slowdown. Easily my favorite singer/songwriter who's lyrical and guitar skills amaze me every time I see him. The Old Canes opened with a slew of musical hardware that made for a great opener. DD just finished up a new record with AJ Mogis behind the boards, I assume it will be released on Team Love, the new songs were great. Dondero was backed up by local percusionist Craig D. Dondero doesn't need much support on stage but the addition of Craig D always makes it better. Anyways, it was fun hanging out with Megan, Rafal and Murphy girl.

New Post

In short, I'm sick, no swiney H1N1, just the good old common cold. Haven't been able to shake this thing for a week and it's caused quite a set back in the fall CX plan. Gone is my three week training break from racing. The three pack of KS Champs, NE Champs and Jingle Cross has been compromised. I'm now stuck with the option of training through the first two with emphasis on Jingle Cross. We'll try riding tonight at Swanson on the TNR, then....?

Randy and Brady on the barriers

Omaha CX Practice from Mark Savery on Vimeo.

CX practice pics

Lucky is the man

Who has amazingly talented friends...

Norfolk CX

Made the 2 hour pre-pub crawl trip up to Norfolk for Elkhorn valleys first shot at a cross race. Jon and crew did a solid job creating a brutal course. Off the line Nate took the holeshot with Troy and Matt in tow. Randy and I settled in but before half lap the lead three were pulling away. As we reached the more technical last half on lap two I passed Randy back and managed to keep him at about 5-10 seconds for a few laps. After that, we flip flopped and it was my turn to trail him by the same amount. This went on until the final two laps when my legs finally let go. Up front, Matt Farnham powered away around lap 2 or 3 never looking back.

It was good to actually race someone and after 4 races under the belt it feels like the 'cross legs are slowly coming back. The bad news is that daylight savings time hits next weekend which will pretty much kill the Tuesday CX practice. Need to find a park with lights.

Photos by The D, thanks.

Now you know your ABC's

While catching up over at the Embrocation I ran across the ABC's of Cross. The J and K rung out like the bells of Notre Dame. Both notably visible in the image on the right. J~Juniors, Joe Schmalz (he's really a U-23) and Chris Wallace making a Shad Smith sandwich, just looking at the photo makes me taste blood as I remember the ass kicking they handed down to me this weekend. K~Kansas, the place where this ass whooping was handed out.

CX practice Omaha style went off full tilt. I think ten or eleven showed up. The course was brutal and will hopefully make the races seem easy. V.P. and I spent the better part of both 2 and 4 lap sessions chasing Randall around. The night was not without tragedy as some learned the gravel trap the hard way. All in all good fun though, no one was hurt. Hopefully some roadie brethren (mtb'ers too) will read the above ABC's and come out to play. The intensity of 'cross is a perfect once a week workout to maintain your high end fitness through winter. It will improve your bike handling skills too. Come one, come all.

G.P. M-O-D

My take-aways from this past weekends racing in Topeka and KC have me thinking. Thinking about putting on a little race of my own. The Grand Prix MOD. The catch, everyone has to race with a twenty pound weight on their back. Except me.

Or I just get my act together, find some discipline, and drop the twenty pounds I've been talking about dropping the whole year.

So what came of this weekends festivities? Well...Tom and Nancy rock, they welcomed the NE CX crew with open arms and nourished us with a full spread for dinner and breakfast.

I figured out my tire pressure limits on the new Grifo race treads. Forty is too low, as I unseated a bead Saturday on a remount. Big thanks to Schmitty for getting me a wheel he had left in the pit, allowing me to finish up the race.

I figured out that I don't posses enough power to effectively race in zoysia grass. brutal.

The leg speed felt good through the high speed barriers even though I pulled something.

Saturday/Sunday races are tough, real tough.

Math Guy, Schmitty and T-Nuts made it on the podium at one point or another. Mr. T rocked it on Saturday and Nate, Tom and JB all put in good performances. So where does that leave me? Good question. I've had a pretty slack ride program since the 5-O and it's showing. My only hope now is that over the next 5-6 weeks I can pull some of that fitness back. I'm hoping that the Tuesday CX practice at Seymour Smith will help, along with keeping the diet in check.

Next up is the Norfolk race this Saturday followed by three weekends off. Then it'll be all in with three back to backs, DeStad, Lincoln and Jingle Cross.

Ready for another go

The final bits for the Marin arrived Friday and Monday. The decade old frameset has been resurrected for another go at autumnal racing. I was surprised to see a final weight come in at a fighting 19.5 lbs. Not to bad for a frame with 1" steel steertube.

The build out was not without issues. The bottom bracket/chainstays were originally designed around a mountain crank which meant massive chainring/frame interference with the new Ultegra crank. Luckily I was planning on a single chainring setup and it just so happened that if I ran the ring on the outside of the spider it would clear. So, with a set of 4mm chainring spacers and some customer filing to the Salsa ring guard I was in business. Chainline is a bit "off" in the low gears but not enough to worry about.

In addition to the new Ultegra bits, I'm trying out Shimano's PLT seatpost and stem. The later attached to a carbon Bontrager 3XL bar. The Challenge Grifo clinchers showed up yesterday and matching latex tubes are on the way. Decided to stick with my Spooky brakes, although the new TRP magnesiums are awfully tempting. We'll see how she goes this weekend in Kansas, those boys are getting really fast.

Not everyday you see a guy dressed in a full skunk costume.

The Giro goes L'Eroica

The thing I like most about the Giro is it's often use of gravel roads over the high mountain passes. The rumor mill says next year it will be taking it to lower elevations. Read more.

Hot Commodity

The Challenge Grifo seems to be the clincher of choice this year. I got an email from distributors extraordinaire QBP last night saying they were back in stock with a 50 count. Just got word from Nate that numbers were down to 16, by the time I checked there were 5 left. I got my two...just.

First Bits are Here

More tomorrow?

My New Favorite Site

Let the CX begin

I'll just put up a photo from last years CX at Swanson because really, nothing changed much from a year ago. Although I did manage to be the first person to not get lapped this time around. Sadly, I am calling it quits. Quits that is to racing CX on a singlespeed. With my dismal 12th place finish I realized that I want a little more out of 'cross this year than drinking beer and trying not to get lapped. So with that said, I ordered up a fresh Ultegra kit for the Marin, tubeless wheels and all. A new chassis may be in order, still thinking on that one.

The new (old) bike will be 1x10 (42x12x25). I'm debating on the tire thing. The new Ultegra wheels are tubeless ready but with only one tire choice, Hutchy Bulldogs, so with that in mind, they might find some tubes lingering about their innerds because I'd really like to find some Challenge Griffo's.

Next race looks to be Capital Cross in Topeka followed by the Boulevard Cup. We'll see how much 'cross fitness I can muster in the next two weeks, I've got some catching up to do.

Testing out the Chrome Pawn with a little help from my good friend Alfredo Binda.

Vegawa

With only a 36 hour break after returning home from Durango, it was off to Vegas for Interbike. Sorry folks, didn't even get the camera out of the bag. Let's just say there was a ton of carbon, carbon, carbon and about as much compression.

Chrome had some sweet new shoes for the urban rider that include a 3/4 fiberglass shank (my personal favorite).

In addition, some lads have broken away from Chrome and launched Mission Workshop, they've got an interesting spin on an old product.

Probably the biggest surprise was the lack of vendors, especially some of the big names. Giant and Cervelo were noticeably absent, although both did have their own off-site functions. It looks like most small/custom manufacturers are doing the NHMBS show.

We managed to catch Cross Vegas and the USA Crits finals but that was about it. After driving 32 hours to Durango and back I was pretty spent and hit the pillow early each night, that is if midnight is early.

12 hours after touching down at Eppley I was on the startline at Manawa. In seven days time I went from riding the smallest gear I own, 34x22, to the biggest, 34x15, and...after not riding for a week I proceeded to douchebag myself by hitting the deck 3 times, the first on gravel, and limped into the finish. I usually do a pretty good job of keeping things upright, but somehow I managed to crash more in one day than I have in the previous 3 years. So with that, the mountain bike season is over. No Sugarbottom for me this year. Bummer.

Cross is coming, or, I guess it's here, I'll just be showing up fashionably late. I'll miss Swanson for R&R's wedding festivities, might make it back for Sunday we'll see. The following weekend is locked out for me too, which is probably alright seeing how there is still a ton of racing in November and December and even a little bit in January.

Started running Monday, I'm sore...

SSWCD9

Photo: Davey Boy

After two weeks on the road and a couple days off I'm finally piecing together the whirlwind that was/is September. With the Dakota 5-O weekend behind, I had to hit it pretty hard at work as SSWC and Innertbike were back to back.

Most of the Durango trip was a blur. The G6 loaded up the MC short bus and headed west. After a quick pit stop at Ole's we rolled into Mitch's around 10 to find a twelver of Dale's and a cushy dinning room floor. The morning came early, hitting the road playing caboose for the newly christened team Soulcraft '71 Suburban. Mitch powered it over the passes as the 350 V8 put the hurt down on the Sprinter. We arrived in d-town narrowly avoiding disaster as MW showed off lightening quick reaction.

A considerable amount of the trip would be spent surrounding our accompanying keg provided by the kids at Modern Monks. After a few cups we mounted up and rolled into town for some grub at Carvers and a METAL party at host Sean's house.

S-house threw out the first ride callout and we all agreed, Hermosa Creek would be the route of the day. A late start left us hypothermic as the last four miles were ridden in thrity something degree rain. Post ride talk centered around Endura gear, the Scots have it together. After a good night of more consumption, NW, MW, 34x20, JB and myself headed out Friday to hook up with the Soulcraft and Retrotec lads. Sean and Jeff led us to some of the best ST I've ridden in many moons. With Nate doing his obligatory flat thing we had the opportunity to chat with Curt Inglis, owner and everything man for Inglis and Retrotec cycles. After having spent a bit of time with Curt I'm seriously thinking about having him build me a frame, so much so that I'm dreaming about it.

Friday night was the kick-off party with tons of New Belgium brew, live music, dirt jumping and the pre-lims for the hosting competition done up American Idol style. To quote the I-talians, "Canada Sucks!" as Hungary must have too as Italy and New Zealand moved on to the finals.

The blur that was "race" day was crazy. The SSWCNE crew were the standouts as only Daverill was in full costume and Davey Boy sporting a nice cape. The rage out of town was nuts as all of Durango came out to send us off. As the track narrowed and tilted towards the sky we were on foot and hiking. By the top I grabbed a cup of O'dells and launched myself down Raider Ridge and into trials heaven. I was having the time of my life as I hopped from rock to rock. Around the one hour mark my legs started cramping, no doubt due to the massive hike a bike. No better cure for cramps than a cold PBR, I downed half and left instructions to make sure a Monkey Wrench rider got the other half, Showen would be the lucky recipient.

Halfway up the next hike a bike and it was time to get the rest of my drink on. Stop one, bacon, twinkies, and tequilla. Stop two, whiskey. Stop three, Tecate chaser and all downhill from here. Halfway through the descent and I could feel the tequilla catching up to me. The trail was a ripper and I as I cleaned the last technical climb to huge cheers I rolled across the line where they had Old Chub waiting. The scene at the finish was crazy. Live music and all the Oskar Blues you could hope for.

Saturday night party was a good one. The basketball game to find next years host was the highlight along with Ross Schnell and Heather Irmiger getting the victors tats. New Zealand won the game so maybe we'll be heading to the way south next year?

Made the trip home through Salida and Absolute Bikes. Owner Shawn clued us in on the Vapor Trail 125, one for the calendar. We crashed in Frisco and awoke to snow and 28 degree temps through the tunnel. Winter is upon us.

Nebraska natives in standout lycra

Photo: Mitch Kline

SSWC 09

For your viewing pleasure and more...now off to Lost Vegas.



...more later