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photo by jebbager.
Top 5 Favorite Concerts
1. Beck- solo tour in philly- incredible
2. Foo Fighters- this fall with weezer and hot hot heat
3. Ramones- hammerjacks in Baltimore-
4. Radiohead Ok computer tour
5. U2- beautiful day tour, we were right on the heart


Okay, so very quickly my clothes are feeling really tight. Been on the see food diet, as in If I see it and it's not nailed down I'll eat it. One of my goals for 2006 is to go into base phase with in 2 pounds of race weight, and hopefully get down another 5lbs. Let me put some numbers here: I want to start base at 170lbs, I want to get down to 165lbs for the season.

I set up my B cross bike as a fixie. I rode that a lunch today. Holy crap that was hard. I was gonna ride that on the Amnesty ride, but clearly I have no Fixie skills, gotta get better with that before I rock in a big group. I am looking forward to going back to Elk Neck this weekend. The loop is small, maybe we'll have to double up, no worries though it's big fun. Anyway, anyone see any great shows of note ? And Elle, don't be bringin' that Barry Manilow shit.

respect
fm

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Christmas Song-

Elk Neck Christmas Eve Ride. We had a great group of 15. ( 5 of the 7 Spot boys were there) and the wool made this SPOT brand whore smile. This ride reminded me of so many great gruop rides down here. It was awesome. 3 years ago, many trails were closed, and bikes were generally not welcome. Some of that has changed recently. Fuzzy lead the loop, which is much shorter than the old loop, but is still wonderful. Elk Neck is incredibly technical, but not in the rocky kinda way, but in the tight, twisty, rooting, off camber way. Perfect if you ask me. It took me a good 30 minutes to get my mtb bearings back. A couple of silly early stacks, and I was on my way. We had a very festive ride. The ride itself was the idea of TedLogic. He and Fuzzy did an outstanding job maestroing. This was the first time I touched a bike since nationals, and man was it fun. Up top at the look out we had a chance for us all to sit back and take it in. We were stoked to have home town hero Katie and KidChris join us. Needless to say, I'll be back to Elk need Monday morning.

Katie home for the holidays and enjoying some fine single track

The boys talk about why L-Webb's bike is so heavy.

"I think it's the wheels" says TedLogic
"I think it's the fork" says Andrew
"I think it's the EBB" says Dennis
"I think it's the long ass name INDEPENDENT FABRICATION, that will weight down anything," says Fitzy aboard his svelt SPOT BRAND.."

we love you Lauri.

In this picture Jeb drops his mom L-Web. L-Web said it was because her bike was too damn heavy. I mean it's like pulling two bikes up a hill...

L-Web abd Katie enjoy the view from the over look...

KidChris home from Lees-Mcrae. Chris was second at the NCCA nationals for the b's. chris was riding wheelies today. When he left for school he had trouble cornering. See college is really good. 

Fuzzy and Buddy lead teh group out of one loop and into the next... 

The Gay UPS Truck made it's debut ride today. SWEEEET...

Crush

So I haven't posted for a while. sorry.

I haven't touched my bikes since my nats race, aside from cleaning them. Work has been crazy, but that's cool too. Started building up the gay UPS truck yesterday. Gonna debut that this weekend hopefully.

So here are my top 10 favorite movies. Debatable but here they are, list of course could be persuaded to be changed...

1. dogtown and the z boys
2. Old School
3. some kind of wonderful
4. caddyshack
5. star wars (all of them as a piece)
6. Xmen 2
7. breaking away (i actually have this on dvd)
8. jersey girl
9. Grosse Point Blank
10. Good Company

number of others were close and could jump in depending on my mood.
I also really liked i robot but didn't feel it in my top 10. Good company is shakey but scarlett johenson is beautiful, and I like that topher grace fella. He's gonna be a really good actor someday.

what about you? 5 or 10 best movies?

respect
fm
your spotbrand whore

more nats...

So last night I went to see the dave mathews. again. I admit, I don't like dave, and last night he was really mellow, but my wife, she loves him, and if she's willing to stand in a field in the middle of a blizzard and cheer for me, well hell, I'm more than happy to spend and evening listening to dave with her...

The kid next to me was really up tight. So much so I think he could have made a diamond if he stuck a piece of coal in his butt. But them my man busted out some of the hippie lettus and he was gizmo the dancing machine. While bustin' a move he dropped his J. Then gizmo the dancing machine was on his belly on teh Wachovia center floor looking for it. That was pretty damn funny.

skinnycraig and fatmarc- hats are issued at birth...

jebb...

So I was a little nervous at Nats. I thought we had 6 numbers, not 4. So of course I go to pin up and I'm missing 2 numbers. I tottally freak out. I run down to Dan the man's car, rip it to pieces trying to find them they are not there. FInally I resolve myself that I'm gonna have to go to registration and tell them I lost them. So I go to registration and it goes like this.

me :" Hi, I'm the jackass that lost 2 of his numbers. Do you have any extra tyvek I can make another out of?"

Officals: "uh, no, but here is some paper and a sharpie."

me: " Yeah, I have the 2 for my shoulders and teh 2 back numbers, I just can't find the 2 little ones..."

all the officals look at me like I have 2 heads. I look up at the jersey on teh wall showing how they want the numbers pin, and then it hits me.

I never was missing any numbers, there were only 4.

me: "Hi, I'm the jackass that thinks he lost his numbers, but really there's only 4 of them, so I'm okay now, thanks for your help, have a great day..."

Officals; "first nationals huh? you have fun today..."

chris and jeff...

I sit and listen to a christmas disc that MEGA made for me last year. Thanks meg, I appreciate not only the disc, but also that you contributed to our pit, not because you were gonna use it, but because you wanted to support the midatlantic, and of course the Delaware Cyclocross Coalalition of Delaware. That was cool.

Rob Lyons awesome ride...

Wanted to pay some props to the guys I have raced against in my group all year long. You know us, we were the guys trying to sneak into the top 10 all year at the MAC races and some of the guys racing tough for the 11-20th spots. Not everyone had stellar races, but still I was proud of how we made out

Rob Lyons- 21st
Mark Gwadz -24th
Doug Gray 16th
Jeff Cordesco 11th
Fred Wittier 5th
Roger Masses 24th

Lisa and Diane....

My favorite comment of the weekend was from Kelly who said the 35-39 race was survival of the fattest. That was pretty damn funny.


Pictures for this blog were stolen from Dennis Smith. None were harmed.

respect
fm

The Perfect Storm

11:58 am. Staged for my race with 198 other master racers from the age of 35-39. The morning had brought snow and what we thought would be tough enough conditions. I was so nervous I felt like I was gonna vomit on my top tube. The head official informs us that we have one minute to go. I hand my warm up jacket to Paul. The sky opens up on us. First snow this morning and now rain to thoroughly soak us. To break the tension, I let out my best Rick Flair "whoa!!" yell at the top of my lungs. I smack myself in the face like I used to do as a High school wrestler. The official blows the whistle and we were off.

As soon as the race started a wave of cold water splashed all over me. It was like I just jumped into a pool. I can see Yozell's wheel, and Kiwi Mark right in front of me. These are good wheels. By the first corner I can't feel my hands, but I feel good.

First lap feels long, but I'm in a good group with some guys from my group at home, Kelly and Todd (BTW TODD EMAIL ME), some guys who usually eat my lunch, mainly Hebe and Piccalo. Ransom flys by. Conditions have started out bad, and start to diminish. Dudes are crashing all over the place, but I ride smooth I finish the lap in a good spot.

Second lap, I"m still running clean. Hebe comes by me on the power sections, and I feel like in the running and techy sections I"m on it. I feel good; don't know how far back I have drifted. Focus on the next guy in front of me. Hebe gets a little gap. I hear Luxy yell, "get that wheel" I stand on it, and come around. That was weird. Maybe the first time I've past Hebe in my life. At the end of the second lap, I think Slick Rick or Wes the conqueror lets me know it's a four lap race. I'm feeling good. I hear someone tell me I'm in 35th.

You know, coming into this, I thought realistically I'd come away, in the 40's, with a good day, the 30's were possible. Then the storm really turned up. Freezing rain and snow pounded us. The headwind up the finishing strait was the worst I ever felt. I was tucked low and pedaling as hard as I could, but felt like I wasn't moving. But shit, this is the National Championships, I'm in 35th with 2 to go, top 30 sure would be nice. I see guys in front of me, what the fuck.

My only thought was move up, keep moving up. And I did. I moved through some small groups. I rode smooth. End of third lap, I ran past Piccalo. Coming out of the Candy Bowl, I get cocky and stack it into the snow and ice and muck. Sliding down the hill, I realize I don't want to do this again. Piccalo dances past me. Through the black hill, I dismount and start running; I slip and fall on my face. I get up only to slip again, I start to freak thinking, "fuck I'm stuck on this hill!" I start running and moving again, I'm back on the bike.

Up the finishing straight, I see Piccalo ahead of me, the wind kicks up hard. Piccalo is a little dude and I watch as he is blown from the right side of the road to the left, and I put my head down and grind past him. One to go. I go by the pits and hear, Rick yell "come on home Marc, come get warm!" I just keep thinking kept moving forward, drive. The course was in awful shape, tape broken, step stakes everywhere, and all the time, the wind and the snow pelted the riders. I knew these were perfect conditions for me. I focused on being smooth and driving forward. Not until the final time heading up the final road section did I look back. No one was there. I drove up the hill to the finish.

Twice this year I have done races where Richard Fries has announced. Twice, I’ve crossed the finish line to have him say “and all the way from Wilmington Delaware, a rider from Henry’s Bikes.” Today as I cross the finish, I knew I had left everything out there. Fries announced, “coming all the way from Wilmington, Delaware riding for Henry’s Bikes/SPOT Brand MARC VETTORI finishing a strong ride.”

I thrust my arm into the air.

2:00am Saturday morning. I lay in bed, wired beyond all belief. I stare at the ceiling. 24th place. I took 24th place today. I could hear SPOT BRAND Paul's words in my head. He said, "today, there were only 23 riders in this country better than you." Even if that's not really true, I was so stoked.

By all means, I know my place in the world. I'm just some dude. I'm not particularly fast, I don't really do anything magical. I like to ride my bikes. This weekend's race, exceeded my expectations. I've done over 200 races, and nothing was ever like this one. This is one I will hold on to for a long time. I recognize that this might be as good as it gets for me. 24th place at nationals. For me, that storm, that weather, those conditions, were perfect. Just perfect.

Our fine luggage...

Thanks to Diane and Chris A (my internet friend) and everyone, who helped get me in the car to get warm, and get all our stuff in the car, and make sure I didn't die. Wayne and I were sitting in the front of the toaster, Sami was towelling us off as everyone else threw stuff in cars so we could evacuate. Everytime someone would open the toaster, wayne would yell "shut the fing door !" Although I was never cold during the race, afterwards, I couldn't stop shaking. My fingernails were purple, I still can't feel my big toes.

The short round kid won in a sprint...

middle of the storm...

John Hanson and Dan the Man get the tough guy awards, unaware that the final 2 races of the afternoon where canceled they headed down to stage in the middle of Armageddon as everything was falling apart. In the dead middle of the storm, and then with the races rescheduled, they did 2 races in one day Saturday both with top 20's in the 30-34, and top 40's in the elite race. So Good.

Paul and Lisa were the backbone of the DCCof D this weekend.

Thanks to Slick Rick for keeping me on track all season, and for pitting for me. Thanks to Spot Brand Paul, for making everything flow this weekend. He keep the Delaware Cyclocross Coalition of Delaware, moving all weekend, and then took a 34th in the 35+ B's; Lisa was 11th in 40+...