Diane and Beth, our hostess with the mostess 

did a little snugglin's today...

Sunday:
Cycle Smart International.

My race- start in 7th row, field capped at 100. start was crazy, but I kept moving up. Rode well. I was very happy. Best of all, I didn't ride scared, like I did in Portland. I was aggressive. Attacked my strengths and rode a good race. Was in Ransom's group for like 2 laps, then he left us ad it was my group until I attacked 'em. Saw Kerry, Mega, JD today. It was great to have my bro and his family cheering for me. Always like to have Diane there. Look I didn't win any national championship, but I raced my ass off, I rode my best, which I don't feel like I have in my last 3 races, and that makes me happy.

Dieter -

I'm not the Fort GPOA! Cheering squad but we (me and my family) had a really good time watching Wes the conqueror and Deiter race today. Dieter doesn't really do himself justice in his report. Basically he had moved through the group with Van de Klaus and FAHFM, and looked to be moving up when he flatted. He the chased back through one group, bridged back to the Van der Klause group and then, well threw a piston rod. Dieter should be proud.

wes the conquorer.

Before the race Wes asked me to let him know where he was 2 laps in. Well on the first long straight I kept looking for him, but couldn't find him. That's because he was 4 from last. But he kept digging, 2 laps in he was in 49th place, which Diane said, "you can't tell him 49th place." I agreed, We told him "mid pack" at Mega's suggestion. Wes would nod, put his head down and keep driving. On the second run up, which many were riding, Wes was flying through packs of people passing. In the end Wes held off Wellsy and McCormack who were sprinting for the win, and finished on the lead lap in 29th place. Again, Wes should be very proud

Wes Plows into Running dude.

Props to JD and FAHFM the look park course was outstanding, one of my favorite courses ever. I did the old UMass course, which I always thought was kinda shy, but look park was fantastic. Thanks to SkinnyCraig, Beth and Taylor for having us for the weekend, it was awesome.

Rob Campos and Fergie

Luxism of the week (guest starring Mega)

Dude totally stacks it crossing one of the railroad track "jumps" he is all jammed up on the group, ass over head.

Mega looks at us nonchalantly and says, " he's a roadie..."

Yup, that pretty much explained that horrific crash.

Logan (owner of the greatest blog ever)

Thanks to Kerry who came all the way down to see me race. She is the best of the best.

6 hours or 4 songs off of the last Dave Mathews live album we were home, No, Im not a DMB fan, but my wife is a big DMB fan, which short or makes me a dmb fan, in a Jules kinda way.

God bless Heidi who had another hour south to go. We made that "read each other's blog" first awkward, I know this person but not really meeting this weekend.


All in All a Great weekend.

Respect
fm

mayhew was one of many mid atlanticers this weekend...

so just how serious are you about this ?

chillin' with my newphew Justin aka superchunk.

That's what I ask myself each morning when I wake up and think about laying in bed bagging a rollers ride or a run. You know when you get home from work and feel just whooped. I can bag tonight. No worries. Then I ask myself, "just how serious about this are you? Is this worth it ?I ask myself this each time I pass by the krispy kreme donuts that the kind ladies at work bring in. Look, I make no bones about my place in the world as a cyclist. In the MAC/MABRA I'm not even a blip on the freaking screen. However, I don't want to look back at this season and say, " I should have, I could have..." I want to give my best, everyday. Now sometimes this doesn't always work out, but during cross were everything is intensified 20x vs. a 2-3 hour mountain bike race, I find myself asking myself more than ever, " how serious are you about this ?" I want to have my best rides at the biggest races of the year, and very frankly, my best rides are still ahead of me. I know it.

Speaking of the candy bowl. Holy crap I got on the scale the other day and Fatmarc was quickly approaching off-season weight. YIKES! It's been like a pound a week since cross started. That folks is no good. Despite cranking up the intensity, my overall hours on the bike for the week have been drastically cut down. Instead of riding 2-3 hours a day, now it's suffer for an hour. Regardless, the caloric output is reduced, the caloric intake remained the same. Hell, who am I kidding, I have had a hell of a craving for bacon the past few weeks. End result, fatmarc is packing on some extra LBS. And so last weekend I looked at my bloated naked self in the mirror and said, "how serious are you about this?" I put down the Twix bar. Put down that vanilla malt milkshake. (don't even ask why I was eating a Twix, drinking a milkshake starring at myself naked in a mirror) I said "self, you get a handle on your caloric in take." Good news. 4 days in, and I'm starting to shed some of that extra luggage. 5 weeks left. A pound a week will get me where I want to be. In the end, it is all worth it, if nothing else to say, I gave my fucking best.

respect
fatmarc

Lower Allen...

wayne (erik zable of midatlantic cross) and Joel...

So Slick Rick and I arrive, and start to head out on the course to warm up. Immediately I notice that I have too much air in my tires. Not 30 seconds into our ride, I totally stack it in a corner right in front of the pavilan. I locked up the rear end, it started to slide out to my left, it catches and edge, catapulting me on to my ass, as I slide my SPOT BRAND whore tail ass over teacups under the tape. I get a good round of applauce, pick myself up and get going again. I stop and let a air out of my tires, only I let way too much, and in another corner, I rolled my tubular. Fucking brilliant start.