10 Reasons I love my team and our year end party-awards.

Dear Readers,

Last Sunday Diane and traveled down to Baltimore to the epicenter of  C3: Twenty 20 Cycling, for our team's annual celebration and awards event. It was great to catch up with my teammates old and new and reminisce about battles in the past, and future goals.

Team Riders Cover The Walls at Twenty 20 Cycling Compamy...

I love my team. I love riding for Auer and C3. Every so often I get asked why I don't ride for a team more local to Newark. It's a great question, but frankly all the reasons C3 was attractive to me 8 years ago when Diane and I came on board still ring true:

Diane and Bad Kat Catch Up

Top 10 Reasons why I love riding for C3- Twenty 20 Cycling Company:

#10 Black Kit-  Kit is black. Black like my soul. Every time I zip up the jersey I hear AC/DC's back in black playing. How cool is that?

Andrew and Shawn, Kathleen in the background...

#9 Halloween Kit- they are all so bad ass. I get so stoked for these every year. I like having two skinsuits for double weekends, and a little variety is always cool too. Admit it,you wish your team had a bad ass Halloween kit.  Anne Rock's rule #27 - ALWAYS GET THE HALLOWEEN KIT.

Top Left to Lower right-:Karate Kid, Snow Camo, Stormtrooper, Evil Carebear, La Vie Claire. Love and Hate

#8 Eight, eight I forget what eight was for...  (20 aging hipster points if you get the reference)

#7 SWEET JOHNNY MAY- no explanation needed.

Frances, Steevo and BadKat adorne the walls of the shop...

#6 Women and juniors. Moving women's cycling forward has always been mission critical for the team. Amazing women in our ranks, equal pay out, history of elite women's riders, koppenberg cross... really proud to be a part of this...

Auer, Bad Andy and Bad Kat

#5.  It's not about your entitled ass. -  This Team is not your general "elite masters" team or what's in it for me kind of organization. The team has always and continues to work to move the sport forward. Our riders are encouraged to be a part of something bigger than themselves. I'm proud my team gives back and  pays it forward.  How many races/series have the C3 team promoted and run over the years. Without a doubt cross in Maryland/Mid Atlantic would not be what it is today without the efforts of C3 team members. I'll add the only folks I have seen struggle in our program are folks looking more for a handout then contributing with a hand up.

#4 We race as a team.-   Our team works together in races, we get the real benefits of being on a team. We share information, we support each other.  We work in the pit for each other after our races. We cheer for each other. We want to be successful as a team. I am proud of how Auer, Sweet J, Sven Nystron, Joe Lillibridge, Jay Lazar, Big Time GT, Brett R, Jan, JHIII- and others have raced as a team over the years...

#3 Counter Culture/Aging Hipster/DYI ethic-  The team attracts folks who tend to march to their own drummer. I like that. But it's not a FSU (fuck shit up)  attitude, it's a "were gonna do this our way, and we expect the game to be played a certain way" ethic...  We have a diversity of personalities and I have enjoyed learning from being around some awesome people...Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...

Kyle and Tommy

Barnbaby and Shana

#2  It's all about Cross - At a time when cross was an after thought for most teams, this team focused on it. Perhaps the Mid Atlantic's first cross focused team. It's what we think about, talk about all season, even in the offseason (road/mtb season). Eight years later, it's still the true focus of this team.

Auer flanked by Bad Andy and Shawn...

#1 Kris Auer-  I'm proud to represent him, and what he stands for. As a team director he makes a mid pack masters racer like myself believe I can be a world beater. He has coaxed some of my best performances out of me. He also gets that it's stupid masters bike racing. I am grateful that he's willing to put up with my madness over the years. He has a point of view, and believes a team's purpose is greater than being a vehicle for sponsorship. He believes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. He expects the team to make each other better. I have witnessed it, I have experienced it. I believe that  teams take the shape of their leaders, and  C3 is certainly a reflection of Auer. Okay, okay he's not always the greatest communicator, but I trust him. One of my long term teammates once said of Auer, "he's like you little brother who makes you crazy sometimes, and you don't always understand, but at the end of the day you know he's coming from a good place and you love him." yeah, that. Thank you for having me sir. Thank you for having us.

But I DIGRESS,

Sunday night was our team party and awards ceremony. While I'll admit I love the idea of  riding for a smaller team- I know C3 is an ARMADA NOW!  I can't say that there is anyone on the team I am not proud to associate with  and that I haven't had a great experience with. Shawn, Jay, and Tommy or as I like to think of them Doc, Julie, Issac and Gofer did a great job pulling the event and awards off.They have done a great job all year helping make the team feel like, well home.  I was honored to have two awards named after me. That was a surprise and something I took as a great honor. John Hosteller won the Fatmarc Breakout Award, as after years of being right on door step John grabbed a few wins and earned his cat 2 upgrade this fall.

Joshua Templeton won the Fatmarc Positive Attitude Award (which Bad Andy gave me a funny look over as he's seen me not always have the best attitude). Joshua is a super positive person and I have really enjoyed the times I spent with him. He is well deserving and has been one of the nicest folks I have been proud to call teammate this year!

It was a really fun night.  I'm so proud and honored to wear the black and blue of C3 (or whatever color our Halloween kit is).

Auer's opening remarks:

Some of those honored included:

Most Prolific Racers: Greg Wittwer (20), Sam O (19), Kris Mac (18)      

Most Wins: Fred Wittwer, Greg Wittwer (7 wins each)

Going the Distance: Jay Van Rennselear (builder of the stairs, C3 team photographer)            

Longest Standing Team Members: Bad Andy,Chris Nystrom,Diane Grim, JH III and JHII

Newest Team Member: Kelly Walker

Best Crash –  Michael Webber video at SSCXworlds and Jay Lazar going swimming at Ed Sanders

Webber Looking Damn Good in that Sweater

Best Way to Lose a Sprint – Shawn Downing

Shawn explaining how he botched his spring at Schooley Mill..

Knocking on the door award: Johnny May (9 top 5 finishes)

Most Improved Male: Jeremy Burkhardt (cat 4 to cat 2) and a damn nice guy! 

Most Improved Female: Ginny Jeppi

Series Jersey Holders

Joe L (held the Sportif jersey, finished 2nd in the 35+)

            Melissa Ekey (Sportif womens 45+)

Fred Witttwer (MABRA 55+)

Bad Kat (PA Elite Women)

Fatmarc Breakout Award : John Hostetter - III

Hardest Working Man in Show Business: Kris Mac

Fatmarc Attitude Award: Josh Templeton

Best Left Coaster: Pat Miller, runner up Matt Hennessey

Most gratuitous trips to Europe and eating more airline peanuts than humanly possible: Sam O'Keefe

Awful picture of Kris and Jeremy. 

C3 director and one of his lieutenants Jay Lazar!  

Thanks for reading.

respect
VDB

My First Time...

Dear Readers,

Like I'm guessing most folks, my first time was in the first semester of my freshman year in college. In the fall of 1989, I was feeling a new sense of freedom of living outside of my parents place for the first time. I was excited to get out in the "real world" and experience all that I could. Along with those freedoms came lots of choices, opportunities and bad decisions to make.

So I was at a party over on Wilbur Street. I was drunk.

For some strange reason, we'll call it fate, I was drinking beer out of a cycling water bottle that night. A dude I went to school with noticed my water-bottle and came over and asked me if I rode bikes.

"No." I commented, "I just picked up this bottle from the shop."

He continued, "there's a mountain-bike race at Ironhill tomorrow, it will be really fun." he explained, "there's a beginner class, they call it citizen/cat 5, starts at 9am...I think you'd dig it"


"Huh" I thought. I had never ridden a mountain-bike before. I had never raced a bike before, but at this moment, when I was really drunk, it sounded like a brilliant idea. I was totally intrigued.  I didn't have a bike but my younger brother Craig had a huffy ATB he didn't use. That would be fine.  I made my way over to the keg, and topped off my water-bottle and started my trek across Newark back to my dorm. I had a bike race to enter, I'd better get some rest.

7:00 am. My alarm went off.  I was up early, and a little hungover, but heading out to do my first mountain bike race. I got my roommate to drive me to my parents house and drop me off. My parents were surprised to see me that early in the morning. They were really surprised to see me standing in their kitchen in my cut off shorts, Fishbone t-shirt, low top vans and my pro-tec skateboard helmet declaring, "I'm doing a bike race over at Ironhill this morning!" "Can you give me a ride over there?"

So I was off to Ironhill, where I was blown away by the number of people I saw riding around and getting ready to race. It was awesome. The bikes, The jerseys, the bright colors. The pinned on numbers.  I was pretty damn hooked. I got registered, and immediately went to stage because I was so late. Still, I had never ridden the trails at Ironhill.(or anywhere for that matter)

As we staged, I saw a dude who I knew was a cyclist who lived down stairs from me in the dorms. His name was Brett: Brett looked at me strangely. "I didn't know you rode mountain-bikes?" he said.

"I don't", I replied, "this is my first time, I heard about this race at the Wilbur Street party last night!"

 Brett smiled, "your first time!? first ride, first race? "

I nodded confirming.


"that's cool! have fun! " Brett said.

All the citizen racers were corralled into starting position. We got our race instructions which I couldn't hear, because I was so far back, and we were off. We bound up the fireroad at Ironhill- this was awesome. I was battling with riders, I was suffering I was breathing so hard. It was the most amazing thing. We rolled through the bmx section, and in the quarry had a mandatory dismount and run. I was so hooked.

The citizen/cat 5 race was 3 laps that day. The huffy made it a lap and a half. At that point the rear chain stay became detached from the rear drop out. The bike stopped suddenly and dumped me on the ground. It was clear my day was over. Picking myself up and my brother's now broken bike, I was tired, I was bummed, I was totally excited. Bike racing in the woods was amazing. This was awesome.

The next morning at 10:00am, I walked into Wooden Wheels having cleaned out my bank account that I had saved up over the summer "extra school expenses" (beer money), and plopped all $335 down on the counter. I told Tom Harvey, "I need a bike!". He walked me around the shop and showed me my options.

I bought my first mountain-bike, a Muddy Fox:

Not actually my Muddy Fox, but this model exactly.. loved that bike...

I would actually start riding with my friend from school, and would race the final 3 races in the Ironhill series that year. Each time, a little hung over. Each time in my cutoff shorts, Fishbone T-shirt, low top vans, and my pro-tec skateboard helmet. Each week I got a little better, finishing my last race of the year in the top 20. I was so happy.

thanks for reading.

respect
Vanderbacon

Two Outta Three Ain't Bad...

Dear Readers,

The summer before I turned seventeen my brother Tim got this killer boom box with two tape decks. It was the era of the mix tape and that killer boom box had a high speed record so that you could make magical mix tapes in half the time. Right about that same time my father became obsessed with Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell  album, and specifically the song: “ two out three ain’t bad”.  I remember the pride on my brother’s face when he made the tape for my father. Side one, the entire Bat Out of Hell  Album. Side two-all “ Two outta three ain’t bad” for the entire side of the 90 minute tape. Tim’s pride would soon become his beast of burden.

Within a day, it was clear that Dad was more interested in the “two outta three ain’t bad” side of the tape. I vividly remember every time that we walked through the garage, or up the drive way, or turned off the lawn mower  hearing good old Meatloaf sing, “I want you, I need you, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you…” My father, much like all of his sons, was never shy about singing along with the radio, and much like his sons, his ability to hold a tune was never a concern.  Driving around town was probably the worst, as at least in the yard you could walk away from it, but in the car, you were trapped by Meatloaf. That summer it was all meatloaf all the time.

Now I’ll be honest, these memories are well over 20 years old, and frankly a little fuzzy on details…  I think I remember late one afternoon, my brothers Craig, Tim and I were running some errands for my parents in the car.  We flipped on the radio, ejecting Dad’s Meatloaf tape and tossing it on the dashboard. Tim threw in a Ramones tape. He always gravitated to the Ramones. We went around the corner and watched Dad’s tape slide all the way across the dashboard as inertia pulled the tape across the dash. Craig, Tim and I all looked at each other suddenly knowing, but not saying a word. Now the rest of this memory is really hazy for me, and I’ll be honest I don’t remember exactly what happened, but on the next tight corner we might have gone around a little hot, and once again the tape slid across the dashboard and launched right out the window… I clearly remember each of us reaching for the tape as it slipped through our hands. ”NOOOO!!!” we yelled. 

The three of us looked at each other in disbelief. Maybe it was Craig, who asked, “should we go back and get it?” “ it’s probably been smashed into a million pieces by now for sure.” I can hear Tim saying as each of looked at each other nodding in agreement and slightly smiling, but not overtly celebrating.

Today in the office, the guy across the hall had his music up a little louder than usual.  I immediately recognized Meatloaf’s bellowing voice as he belted out “I want you, I need you, but …” I felt a twitch in my eye, and a creak in my neck. I started to break out into a sweat. I think I had a small seizure. Then I found myself smiling and laughing…

I called my parents. Told them what song I was hearing. My immediate memories.

We all laughed.

In closing I'll say that I don’t have mix tape of all one song, but I am pretty famous for playing songs to  death, I’ll attribute that directly to my awesome father…

anyway,

thanks for reading.

respect

Vanderbacon

Photo Blog -

Dear Readers,

Weekend started with an amazing meal:

You can never miss with pastrami! 

Saturday was a beautiful sun rise.

Jared Nieters agrees. Eric Griffin failed to capture it.

Got back on the bike Saturday, quick run down the Mike Castle Trail, and a lap around Lums Pond... Good times...

Diane didn't like this picture because the bathrooms were in the back ground... 

Saw this jem during our travels Saturday. Too  Good to not share...

Finally resolved my issue with one sided pedals

Sunday we hooked up with the Peoples Ride, with like a million other people, it was fun... 

Trying to be smart, I pulled up a bit short, and was lucky to have Diane to pace me home.

I was grateful for the wheel...

thanks for reading.

respect

vanderbacon...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Dear Readers,

A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away...

I was a wrestling coach... At the same time my coaching career started to take off, I began dating this wonderful young woman named Diane.  When we first starting dating  I was coaching at the local junior high:  Holy Angels. Our team was pretty good, but we had been slapped around by the 2x defending league champs, St. Peter's in our last three meetings. The championship tournament was coming up and it was going to be close. At that point in my life, I had never been a part of a championship team, much less the head coach of one. I told Diane that the championships were coming, and she could come if she wanted. She said she'd love to come. For the uninitiated a middle school wrestling tournament is best described as a mix between herding cats, the Jerry Springer show, and a strange Darwinian social experiment. It's a controlled chaos at best- Well generally controlled. At the time, wrestling was one of my deep passions. If I was her, I would have walked into the gym, seen that craziness and turned around and run away.

So the tournament wrapped up, and the announcer was reading the team scores. He got to the final two, and announced that this was the closest tournament in the history of the event, and that the scores had been double and triple checked because it was so close.

The New Champions winning by just one point from Newark- Holy Angles! The gym went nuts with cheers, and frankly boos! The win was totally unexpected, except for from our camp. People were shocked.  Skip, my assistant coach, and I hugged each other and all our kids started jumping on us. We ran around the center of the mat, I had my 72lber, John on my hip, and my 82lber -Stan was on my back.  Skip, a former heavyweight, must have had 6 kids hanging off him. We jumped around like we just beat the Russian Olympic Hockey Team. In our minds we had. In the midst of this chaos, this craziness  I remember looking up in the crowd at Diane and her sister sitting midway up in the bleachers eyes as big as saucers surrounded by people jumping. cheering and jeering. They were witnessing the total chaos unleashed in that small New Castle gym. They sat stoically. I smiled and waved at her, and she smiled back waving, clearly happy for me, but not really having a concept of what the hell was going on. Another of my wrestlers jumped on me, and I went back to celebrating with the kids.

If I  was her, I would have turned and run away....

24 years later, I am very grateful that she did not, and in fact more times than I'd care to admit she's been the anchor for me when I was at the center of some chaotic crusade. 24 years of supporting me all started with that smile and wave. She keeps me on track when my passions might be close to getting the better or me. I am not a balanced man, I don't do half-assed very well.  I focus on something and pour all my heart and energy into that. I can be tough to live with sometimes. I am lucky to have the support and best friend that I do in Diane. Thanks for being my rock Monk. My harbor in the storm and better than anyone, helping me find balance. Thanks for not running out of that gym screaming... Here's to at least 24 more amazing years...

respect
fatmarc

Presenting a Training Overview to the Local Trail Club

Dear Readers,
This week I was honored to give an overview on training for the Trail Spinners at their monthly meeting.  A few weeks back Chris Jackson asked if Nick Sears and I could do a presentation on training. 

Nick and I were originally going to tag team the presentation, but he became ill with a stomach flu on Monday and I flew solo. Please Note:  I developed the PowerPoint presentation, Nick was set to deliver the meat of the presentation, but when he fell ill, I filled in the blanks. I kept the Nick slides in because the crowd came for Nick, not me, and anything that I did attribute to him were sound principles that we have discussed at previous times. I figured I'd share a summary from the presentation...

Here was the Nick Intro Slide:

here was mine:

I talked about goals setting, time available and what you're willing to sacrifice. I used the example that I race pretty well at 170lbs. I could probably climb a bit better at 165lbs. That would mean giving up 1/2 price nacho night, and beer. I commented that at this point in the game in my life 170 works fine for me. I stressed the importance that as an athlete anyone can accomplish anything, but you have to be realistic as to what you are/ can and are /willing to put into it. Clearly, I'm not sacrificing 1/2 price nachos!

I talked about training for an event versus training for a season. I talked about peaking, and that at most folks can have 1-2 peaks a year. I talked about riders dominating a series and in most cases that's a sign of 2 things: 1, they are doped to the gills (that got a laugh) or  2. they are racing below their talent/training/ability. The latter statement not a slam on sandbagging, as there may be other reasons and frankly this can happen in masters/cat 1 classes, and I don't believe you can sandbag those classes...

Next I dove into the basic principles of training as they have been taught to me. Building fitness, structure, intervals, different types of intervals, the importance of recovery and the goals of each:

I mentioned that cycling is a social sport and the benefits of having a mentor. I listed a few, certainly not all the folks that have been critical in my development as a cyclist.

Again, on the social aspect the importance of having great people to ride with, again some of the folks I am lucky to get to ride with although clearly not everyone:

I closed out the presentation with 3 things I hoped they took away from my presentation:

And while these three things didn't really come from Nick, these are all sound principles I know that as the Head Coach of Train Smart Sports Coaching he supports.

At the end of the presentation I was a little worried that I might have overshot my audience. The presentation was about 15 minutes long, and then I answered some really great questions for another 20 minutes or so. The 20 minutes of questions was really fun, and made me feel confident that I hit the target audience.  While I was clearly bummed out to not get to present with Nick, I am grateful for the opportunity to share what other have shared with me over the years, and it was a fun night.

thanks for reading!

respect
fatmarc