this is awesome.

respect
vanderbacon

Neil Patrick Harris Experience

Haven't ridden a bike in 10 days.

Not super motivated yet. 2012 will be a different year for me.

I know one thing, come Mid April, I'll be at the Baker's Dozen.
I'll be part if the Experience. The Neil Patrick Harris Experience.
How could you tell this guy no? Hopefully this guy will round out the group...

will be a fun day. Will have to start riding bikes soon...

respect
vanderbacon

If I was the Flash...

It would totally mess with my brothers like this:

The Horrifying Downside to Being a Superhero's Brother -- powered by Cracked.com


respect
Vanderbacon

Masters 40-44 Nationals Race

So, ah what happened?

Well,  2 laps into a 5 lap race, I pulled into the pit and pulled the plug.


So how does someone pull the plug on a race that has been a goal for 365 days, and over 20 hours of driving, and countless hours of preparation?

As much as I love cross, I love my wife more.

Let me explain.

First and foremost my goal was the 40+ B race. Wednesday. Secondary, goal was to fight for a top 40 in the 40-44 race. Physically, I was ready to go. Mentally I was cracked.  I don't travel well without my wife. I was in Madison 6 days by the time the second race came up, and frankly, I just wanted to be home. Six days of craziness, and racing and barn fires and well, when things are crazy, she keeps me cool. I lost my cool. What can I say predictably lame, but the truth. As bodies were piling up in the frozen ruts, I just didn't have the heart to battle in conditions that I usually excel in. So there you have it. I just didn't have it this day...

Nationals were a lot of fun. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot.

I'm glad to be home. and to have a little break now...

What's 2012 hold?
I can't honestly say that I know. I love cross, but I also recognize that I'm not really that good at it. It's a ton of fun, but for Diane and I racing cross had evolved into much more than just training and preparing ourselves for races. We promote, work a series, in general work at cross. Thing is, this isn't my job, I'm tired and find myself asking if the juice is worth the squeeze anymore. Promoting isn't as fun as it was. It's satisfying but I can't say it's fun. I feel like I have loyalties that I won't turn away from. I'm in a weird spot I guess...

I don't go to Nationals every year. I remember going to Nats in Baltimore and Providence and just being blown away. I felt like it was the pinnacle of the sport. I was just blown away by everything. In Madison, I was the WTF guy. "WTF they have 3 barriers? WTF can they make a smaller pit?, WTF can't they tape the entire course?" I don't want to be the WTF guy anymore.  There's no joy in that for me. I want to look at the sport with excitement and wonder. And frankly, this has more to do with me, and what I want to get out of this, than what the promoters in Madison did.

So, we'll see. For Now, I'm just happy to back in the arms of my baby. I've got some things to sort out. I'm gonna take a little time and try to sort some stuff out...

thanks for reading.

respect
Vanderbacon

40+ Nationals B Race

I had a pretty good day. I'll admit I had intentions of a single digit finish or a box, but alas it was not to be. Had a weird start as for the first time this year, I totally missed my pedal off the line. I finally got it and panicked a bit as I took off... I made it to the front group and settled in. 2 laps in I was running 6th place, it was hurting, but hurting good.  I kept driving it. The course was getting less frozen and more muddy. I had some trouble keeping the bike going straight forward, ended up doing a 3 donuts during the 3rd and early 4 lap... a combination of being to aggressive in some corners and not running a mud tire on the rear. Jeffy commented to me after the race "that 360 was pretty sweet fatmarc!" I was pretty distraught watching my race ride away. Auer and Tom gave me the same advice " get your head out of your ass!" I'd lost the 2 groups I was riding in but 2 guys had fallen off of them going into the last lap. So Iput my head down, slammed my hand in the door, bit my lip and  drilled it. Picked up one guy up the final climb, and took the other guy on the line... Finished 11th in the Master's B race at Nationals. I was a little disappointed at first, I hate losing ground for being too aggressive, or make bad choices, sometimes I'm bad at differentiating between being patient, and making the move... All in All a good day for me. A little more time away from the race, I feel better about it... One more race for me, and much less pressure on that one... It should be fun...

Lauri put a 42 on her bike and rocked it to the podium. Auer put in a really good ride in the the single speed race. A bad chain line and some muck had him doing some rad bike changes... and still nailing down an 8th place... good on them both...

things are going well here. People are really nice.

Tom is like superman making things happen here.

thanks for reading.

respect
fatmarc

Photos by J. Bahnson

45 minutes

"it's not the 45 minutes, it's what you do with the 45 minutes.."



work hard, play hard, never leave it unsaid...

respect
fatmarc

New Year's Day

An early evening with some good friends, food, and beer:

Followed by a great ride at Elk Neck New Year's Day. It was super fun...

Monkey did a rad job maestroing the ride:

Laundry day at the Vanderbacon house:

Blown away by how much Tommy looks like Tom:

Thanks to everyone for coming out. Hope 2012 is a great one for everyone!

respect.

Fatmarc

The University gave me everything I needed tonight...

A view of the center of the universe:

stairs to run:

sand pits to play in:

that was fun...

respect
fatmarc

Blogdom Wasteland

I love blogs.

Outstanding crew for the Elk Neck Ride today...

I love to read the stories of other cyclists, struggles and racing and rocking out.
I love reading about cyclocross racers, and how they make their way through their seasons.

Heather climbs to the look out...

Monkey Climbs to the look out...

Blake climbs up to the look out...

Travis looks out the look out...

I generally find blogs are slowest this time of year. One of three things is happening:

1. bloggers/riders just finished cross and are done: "It's been a great/awful season I'm enjoying riding longer than an hour, and enjoying a normal life again."

2. blogger/riders taking a break: "I'm enjoying the holidays, just ate 10,000 calories today... I'm going to have another beer."

3. Blogger/riders logging long base mile: "I rode for 5 hours today, it was really fucking cold, but it will pay off later."

like I said, hard times for blog readers...

In the meantime, I'm riding my bike with friends, and playing with my cross bikes and waiting for better blog reading... And giving my best trying to write better stuff myself... More interesting blogging... Not just the one of the three above...

Elk Neck seems like a glowing beacon for me every winter...

thanks for suffering through with me.

respect
fatmarc

never get tired of watching richie jackson skate

enjoy:



respect
fatmarc