Mexington CX

Today, I officially launch the movement to change Lexington to Mexington. If you've been there, you know. Calm down, not saying anythings wrong with it, just noting.

So me and Morgan wen to Mexington (rolls off the tongue doesnt it?) for the Masterson Station CX race. Fairly uneventfull. A big, bumpy, grassy course that was ok, not stellar, but it was what it was. So, we start hot (in every sense of the word), and I dont understand some people, this one squirrely dude (who we shelled) that seemed to think there was a first one to everything prime. Its an hour long wide open CX race buddy, settle. Anyway, 2 laps in, it was already down to three, then two. Third lap, I was leading out, go hot into a corner and hear the Bio-wheels rider behind me fold his tire and flat. Crap. Didnt really want to solo the rest of the 5.5 laps, but he seemed strong, which was bad for my winning chances, so his leaving wasnt a horrible thing, and we had already built a decent gap that I was able to keep building on it. I also gotta give props to my boys in the pit thrownin water on me and handing up some bottles, made a huge difference.

Felt good to really peg it and get the heart rate way up there. Next weekend will probably be a bit more of a barf inducing humbling race, but it was good to shake things out on the new bike in a smaller race.

Buenas noches.

I deserved that

To the guy in the big black Cadilac Escalade I saw in the park this morning, I am sorry and thank you. It was rude of me to gesture in a non-combative manner that you may want to cross back over the yellow line and drive on your side. It was not until you flipped me the bird that I realized how truely selfish I was being. Thank you. Next time, I will just keep my arms on the handle bars and, if I am lucky, give you a little smootch when I come through your windshield.

Do these jeans make me look fat?

Ah, the age old cliché question that can only be answered "No its the giant hunk of lard you stuffed into the jeans that make you look fat." I try to be sensitive.

The thing that just kills me, daily, is people bitchin about their weight, everything from "Work here long enough and you'll start to look like me" (I didnt know a workplace could make you look fat and retarded) or "Youre lucky to be so skinny." Either statement is usually made while wiping donut crust or sauce from the 20 piece chicken poppers with honey-chipolte-dogcrap-cherry-sauce from their face. Really? Its the desk job that makes you look like this? You sure? OK then. I've been working office jobs for almost 10 years now, I guess I'm gonna blow up like the kid in charlie and the chocolate factory any minute now.

Speaking of shitty food, ever notice that McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, etc, etc, commercials always star reasonably thin folks? How about some truth in advertising and throw in some of the normal wheezing buoyees and weeble-wobbles you see inhabiting these places? Either show me some fatties or the skinny 20 somethings hocking oreo pizza should at least have a bong sitting on the table cuz thats about the only way that food item could ever seem like a good idea.

The best is those who marvel at my "heathy diet." Guess what? I buy my food at the same Kroger/Wal-Mart/Wholefoods/Target that the general public is allowed to shop. Really, anyone is allowed to buy the same items at these retailers, I do not belong to a secret skinny healthy people club, I just make choices.

The point? Shut up and stop complaining about something youre willingly and knowingly doing to yourself. Stop blaming tv, your diet, the internet, george bush or whatever you claim is making you fat cuz I have my suspicions that none of those things are stuffing cookies down your hole.

you down with the ocp?

you know me, i love racing ocp. it has everything; rocky white-knuckle downhills, gut buster climb and just all out fast single track - a great power course. last years first lap ripped tire was a heart breaker for me so i really wanted to some retribution this year. things did not start well. during my pre-ride, my freehub body started freezing up. crap, it worked fine saturday. no time to do anything about it now as we were beginning to assemble around the start.

there was a pretty decent field on hand for the pro/ex race. the start was a grassy flat sprint with a hard right and then left into the woods. the dewy grass and horror stories of the first downhill and a new switchback allowed me to easily take the holeshot as i guess the others figured my mangled torso would make a soft landing should anything happen. the new section of the VOT trail rocks. super fast, flowy and fun which leads into the original section with an awesome downhill with some nice big rocks and a couple sweet, banked sweeping turns. i was riding and feeling great. the freehub was proving problematic though since it was causing my chain to wrap up and at times come off.

second lap, chasers were down to one and after aforementioned downhill, i was all alone. i kept the pace the same as i had first lap, feeling good. since my drivetrain was acting up, it was nice not to have somebody right on me, that way i had some breathing room in case the problem caused me so slow down or crash (i did have to stop to upwrap it from the cogset once and i came out of a few rough corners sans chain on rings - suprise, your freewheeling!).

so the VOT downhill was the star of the day since on lap 3, thats where i blew all the oil from my fork. i could hear the ti spring in there workin and i was feelin a bit nervous about some catastrophic failure that may come. well, that came one lap later when i stuffed the front wheel in a rocky section at speed and heard a "pop." i thought it was my tire burping air and also figured thats why my front end felt loose. in the end, i was 1 minute per lap slower on laps 3 &4 over laps 1 & 2 trying to ride less aggressive and keep the bike together. only after the race did i realize my frame now has a new bend in it and that "pop" was my fork actually breaking. good times.

after all the smoke cleared, i won and it felt great. this year has sucked pretty bad and to win against some decent compitition on a favourite (i forgot to be euro when i mentioned tire, er tyre, earlier so i'll make up for it with a favourite) course feels nice.

Crossin' up

I skipped the OtterCreek MTB race today to hit a Cyclocross race. I pre-rode at OC two weeks ago and had a bad day, primarily due to allergies, but I just didn't really feel it, probably because there's something about OC that I just don't care for. So when faced with the choice of riding my CX bike or MTB I went North up to England-Idlewild park in Burlington, KY and raced on skinny tires there.

Took 6th in the B's, better than I placed last year in CX racing on my Klein Hardtail, so I met my goal of finishing in the top half of the group. I know what I need to work on, so I'm gonna focus on that and see if I can improve.

Sorry to let my MTB fans down, but the CX crowd was appreciative. With the MTB season winding down and the CX heating up, I hope to see more than a couple of MTB'ers out on the CX courses this year.

Hello Darlin...

...nice to see you it's been a long time.

Now that i got you singing, well, maybe not. If you dont get the reference, you were prolly born after – I dunno – 1981, never had to hear songs like "Coal miners daughter" over and over and I hate you. Or maybe envy. Close enough to the same emotion. Lets move on to why I chose the title. I raced last weekend. First race in a month. It kinda sucked. I got beat by a guy who wasnt even born when Purple Rain was a big hit, another who wasnt born when Nirvana released their first album, and a guy with one gear (i guess if we need to make the musical analogy, he would be like a 45, or Dexys Midnight Runners). Yes albums, I am old. Why all the musicall metaphors? Why not.

The last Dino was at Town Run trails park in Indy. Know what the best part about doing anything in Indiana is? Leaving. So anyway, tight fast and flat little course. You may actually stop pedaling for, maybe, 40 seconds in the two hours. Ugh. The inch of rain on saturday made things slick for the first couple laps, just enough to take your wheels out from under you suddenly and quite unexpectedly (uh, so i heard from less skilled riders, yeah, thats it.), but by lap 4 it was packing down nicely. It actually is a fun place to ride, would be fun to do their TT race, but man, for a race course, its kinda frustrating; passing is not the best, you just start feelin dizzy after a while and start longing for a hill (up or down, somethin).

So, after all was said and done, Brad Nelson won his fiirst Dino, Ben Richardson played bridesmaid yet again, Jason Pruitt hammered the hell out of a full rigid (perfect setup for town run) with a 44x18 gear. I came blazing in lookin like I had some fire still in me (I think I fooled them) for 4th. Next weekend; retribution at OCP!

Oh man

Another sad day for enthusiasts of the sport. Stories like this scare the crap out of me and make me consider taking up other sports or just staying in the woods on a mountain bike instead of doing road rides. Here is the obituary for Sean Livesay. A link to his blog is over on the right titled "another mtber living in FL."

Bicyclist killed in Niceville was passionate racer

NICEVILLE — A bicyclist was killed Tuesday morning when he collided with a vehicle’s trailer while training.

Sean B. Livesay, 38, of Niceville, was riding his bike on Bayshore Drive when a pickup truck towing a trailer backed out of a residential driveway at 1733 Bayshore, according to Niceville police Lt. David Popwell.

The accident occurred at about 8:30 a.m., and Livesay was pronounced dead at the scene about 20 minutes later. He was wearing a helmet.

Livesay collided with the trailer, which was carrying landscaping equipment. The driver, who lives at the address, was on his way to work.

The driver will likely be charged with a traffic violation, Popwell said.

Livesay was traveling fast on his bike, but Popwell said he was going under the 30 mph speed limit.

An autopsy was scheduled for later Tuesday, mainly to “close the loop” and rule out possible medical conditions, Popwell said. The autopsy results were not available Tuesday night.

Livesay was a known cycling enthusiast who was often seen riding his bike in the area.

Livesay’s passion for racing sent him traveling across the country looking for new challenges. He documented the efforts on his blog.

“I've been doing a fair amount of training so far, and my fitness is far beyond what it was this same time last year,” Livesay wrote in one of his most recent entries April 12. “I had hoped to already have a race or two under my belt, but life kind of got in the way ... which happens sometimes.”

His performance attracted four sponsors. He started racing in 2002 and had been doing it in competitively since 2005.

Daily News Staff Writer Jill Nolin can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1445.