an evening of bad decisions

Dear Readers,

After a few robust weeks of riding, I had planned to take a couple rest days to reap the benefits of this riding. That recovery included heading to the local skate park on Monday. Sunday afternoon, the skies opened up and drenched the world. The kind folks at the weather channel had forecasted down pours all day for Monday. The park just wasn't going to happen. I grabbed my skateboard and headed to the basement.

After about 30 minutes of moving junk around, throwing out an old Christmas tree, stashing my converted TT bike, and an honest to god original PRO-FLEX mountain-bike frame, I cleared just enough space so I had a spot to move around.

I thought to myself - "self, you cleared this space, you should test it out." I spent the next half hour dorking around in the basement- doing slides, little ollies, and much to my amazement, I almost figured out a 180 no comply.

I was having a blast and smiling ear to ear.

I called Diane down:  She smiled at me shaking her head at me. She asked  "is this your evening of bad decisions? "  She continued, "you're in the basement, wearing slippers, and no helmet skateboarding." She smiled at me.

I agreed, "Okay Okay, I should probably have had shoes on and my helmet, but check this out! this is totally cool: "



She smiled, an I called it a night.

Thankfully, the folks over at weather.com were wrong, and the morning was beautiful. I had a blast at the park, and had a beautiful  time. Here's 45 seconds of it, were I look remotely in control!





Thanks for reading.

respect
Vanderbacom

Bad Art and Weirdo Ideas

Dear Readers,

Today was beautiful...

photo credit: Monk - Rombach not pictured...

I starting riding with Joe Bothell in 2012. He has been one of my favorite people to ride and train with since the spring of that year. I have enjoyed watching Joe develop and become one of the best Masters Mountain Bike racers in the Mid Atlantic. The dude was also a mainstay in the top ten of mid atlantic cross, and pretty much crushed my soul all last season.

 Joe has recently been relocated and will be leaving for Dallas soon. Our community's loss, Texas's gain for sure. I'll miss talking smack, and riding with Joe. I'm hoping to still get his texted race reports after Dallas Cross starts up!

Today, I had a chance to ride with Joe, Dennis, Monk, Rombach and Featherman around White Clay and Middle run. I know I won't get too many more chances to ride with Joe, I didn't want to let this one go.

Rombach, Joe and Featherblog

The ride was a blast as Monk drove it hard around the park. I am finishing up a robust 3 weeks of riding and was feeling like I was just finishing up a robust 3 weeks of riding. I yelled up to Monk who was cracking the whip, "Monk, I must have said something to piss you off at breakfast, whatever it was I'm sorry can you please stop ripping off my legs?"

The trails were in perfect condition, and we navigated around the park. It was warm, and slightly overgrown, and just perfect. We carved the trails flowing around the park. We laughed, talked about call ups, crossresults.com, and bitched about our weight, and getting old. It was wonderful.

title stolen from Beach Slang. You should go here to check out more Bad Art and Weirdo Ideas.

I totally blame Schieken, Taylor and Elliot for my newest music obsession....

thanks for that guys.

thanks for reading.

respect

faticus

Totally Unofficial Mid Atlantic Cross Dates #crossiscoming

Dear Readers,

In a former promoter life, one of the roles I had in the local cross scene was trying to coordinate the schedules between the various series, and try to limit conflicts between races. The goal was to try and build the best comprehensive Mid Atlantic Cross Schedule. Most of the time, it was a pleasure working with the race directors, and although some folks weren't happy with having to shift dates, in the end most promoters love cross and worked for what was best for scene. I had enjoyed that part of my role in the past. Thankfully, we are spoiled here in the Mid Atlantic as there is good racing almost every weekend all fall.

I am also grateful that this is a role that I no longer hold.  But, I remain in the habit of putting together the schedule as it becomes more public. 

Where in the past I would email the local series leaders for their dates, (MAC, SUPER8, SPORTIF, PACX and NJCUP), these days I stalk association calendars, watch the social medias and try to pull it together. It's a little more fun that way, I have to admit.

Up front I'll admit:

THIS IS IN NO WAY OFFICIAL. SOME OF THESE DATES ARE PROBABLY WRONG. SOME RACES MIGHT NOT BE HAPPENING. THERE ARE LIKELY DATES I'M MISSING.

Also note I tried to point out some not regional UCI stuff, the New England UCI races, and some other fun stuff that has been on our fall calendar in recent years...

If something looks wrong, please let me know and I'll update.  

With that, I hope you geek out like I do: ENJOY! 

If I was still in my previous role I would love to see Kutztown and Slyfox work something out on 11/13- especially since 10/1 is an open date (as far as I know) in PA... But heck, I'm just a Mid Pack Masters Rider geeking out on an early calendar dates, and I know sometimes conflicts are unavoidable due to venue restrictions, volunteers... etc (observation, not a judgement)

thanks for reading

best to you.

respect
Vanderbacon

Monkey Hill Time Trial (Wilmington Grand Prix)

Dear Reader,

I know what your thinking. Vanderbacon isn't really going to write a blog about a race that took less than 8 minutes to complete, is he?

You're damn right I am!

So let me start by saying this: A few years ago, I did a number of time trials.I enjoy them, they are really fun in a hurtful, look in your soul and question your existence kinda way. The downside was that it quickly became clear that to be competitive, you really need to have TT equipment. Let me say, I would need TT equipment to be competitive and frankly I didn't have the budget for that expense. So my TT career was kinda short lived.

photo credit Velocipedesalon

I signed up for the Monkey Hill TT this week kind of on a lark. I loved racing cross at Monkey Hill, and I figured I didn't want to pass on the chance to race up Monkey Hill again. I'll comment the cobbled classic hill is never smooth, but it is a lot smoother on a 33mm cross tire with 20lbs of pressure than tire on a road bike.

To my surprise the course was super technical, lots of corners, lots of cobbles, lots of place where you had to drive the bike. Most folks were on road bikes, although there were plenty of aero bars and tt bikes, but aero was not required:  it was an awesome course. For someone with out many watts but lots of deception and guile (err hmm your humble blogger) It was super fun.

Got the venue early, and got to do a number of pre-laps.(Kinda like in cross!)
I rode two laps with Denise, who has been slapping me around on the local club rides and Shark Tank rides this spring. She had an earlier start time and rolled off to get ready.

Then I caught up with D-Lowe. We started geeking out on corners, and talking lines going up and coming off of Monkey Hill. We totally talked about tire pressure too. (Kinda like in cross!)
I love D-Lowe.

Finally, Mimi (the most awesome official and who I got to hug earlier in the evening) staged us to go.

photo credit Emily EO

Stream of conscious race report starts now:

Almost over cooked the first hill coming off Monkey Hill,.. Same thing I did chasing Dennis Smith last time I raced cross here... somethings never change...  get on the brakes and don't die... Okay we are at the bottom... hard corner into cobbles,... let the bike go ... no brakes... no brakes...power across the cobbles...  across the bridge and up the false flat.. , get in the drops... stand up... race like a cross race, stand out of corners, don't think TT... Just over the top... A little more... Settle in, shift into the 11 as the course rolls back down towards the river... In the S turn sweeper a little too  hot, scrub a little speed... not on the line I pre-rode...stay smooth... look down and see 30mph... sweet... two more corners... use the entire road... stand out of the corners, stand out of the corners.... Almost back to the base of monkey hill.. take a deep breath... Garvey just said something to me...

Photo Credit BK....

I'm on the hill... this is hard... I can see the finish... it's a wall of sound.. there's BK and Paul- I crack a smile... fucking Paul.  half way up... switch from the right to the left side... there is no smooth... 50 feet to go... Place is going nuts... This is hard... this is awesome... stand up.. can't stand up ... the line is right there... humpf it over... EAHHH....And it's over......

LVG is standing just across the line!  "Great Job Marc! " Did you have fun!"
"yeah, that was great.... so fun... I think" I spun off to try and spin my way off the vomit comet.

Afterwards, it was great catching up with friends and sharing war stories- you know from our 8 minutes of racing...

As Blair said, "so many stories in an 8 minute run!"

Turns out, D-Lowe and I were just a few seconds apart in the finish (just like cross)

and we finished in the money! HEY NOW - That was unexpected!

I had to run back to the center of the universe for a hot dinner date with my awesome wife,

Said Awesome Wife...

and couldn't stick around for prizes, so I asked LVG to donate my vast winnings to the animal shelter she works with AWESOM - which is of course where our lovely Logan came from...

To say I was stoked, would be understatement. 364 days until my next TT....

thanks for reading

and yeah I'm aware it probably took longer to write this than it did for the entire race.

respect
VANDERBACON

absense makes the heart grow fonder?

Dear Friends,

My apologies for being an absentee blogger lately.
I'll try to do better...

Monk and I ran off to the Islands for a quick get-away, and caught up with Craig/Beth and family for a few days. The Bahamas are truly a beautiful paradise. I was pretty cracked, and suffering some gastro-intestinal illness so some down time to recover was very well appreciated.

Beautiful Beaches... good to relax..

and yeah I'm the kook under the towel. I hate sunburn! 

The flight out of Philly was delayed. We made our connector with just minutes to spare. Diane and I ran across the airport and right into the gate. The young gate official smiled at us and said, "oh, our couple from Philadelphia! We were looking for you! Welcome!" Her warm smile and friendliness turned to disdain as I said, "We pulled an OJ - and barely made the gate" The young woman glared at me, as clearly we had a generational gap as I was referencing the Juice's Hertz commercial (we try harder) not killing people across the airport. Gruffly she said to us dismissing us, "enjoy your flight. you sick bastards"  Okay- I may have imagined her saying that last part, but based on the change in her disposition I'm sure she was thinking it.

the pools weren't too bad either...

Saturday, after two weeks off the bike, I ventured back into the water. The rain seemed to break for just a couple of hours, and Buddy the Leg Breaker and I headed out on our cross bikes. Yes, Buddy has a cross bike, but don't tell him- it's a swiss army bike or an adventure bike (it's a cross bike!). I was on my Single Speed Cyclocross. The fire roads were delicious. Perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder, as we had a blast on these too familiar fire roads. Slowly our ride became a good old fashioned Fatmarc and Buddy the Leg Breaker Kung Fu fight. Nothing overt. No displays of aggression, just two old friends refusing to give the other one an inch. The pace crept up.  It was beautiful and as we crested the final rise into the fairgrounds, we were both destroyed. Well played Mr. Leg Breaker, well played.


Sunday a wonderful group came out to the house for a little ride around Cecil County. We did the Mr. Belvedere hates you loop, which is one of my favorites. I was lucky to have such and amazing group of folks to ride with...

photo by Monk (superselfie!) Jimmy  Vanderme, Gus, Kita, Jen, Anne, BK, Sanford,
 Sharon, Monk, Big Time, and Rebecca- not pictured:

Nick and Buddy who rode to the ride and put in monster miles today...

JHIII is not pictured because he was taking off his Super Suit!

Buddy and She-Buddy! 

thanks for reading.

and hey-  don't you forget about me...

respect
Vanderbacon