onward and upward

In true Cleveland sports style once the season is over it's time to gaze boldly and dreamily towards the upcoming season. There is always next year, and next year will be perfect... right
Taken from the NEOCX website..

A number of dates have already been reserved for the 2011 NEOCX Series! Please see the list of tentative dates below:

- Sept. 3, 2011 (SATURDAY – Team Lake Effect/Manatoc)
- Sept. 11, 2011 (SnakeBite/Brooklyn Rec.)
- Sept. 18, 2011 (Spin/Wendy Park CX)
- Sept. 24, 2011 (SATURDAY – Stark Velo CX)
- Oct. 2, 2011 (SnakeBite/Cascade Park, Elyria)
- Oct. 16, 2011 (Spin/Willoughby CX)
- Oct. 23, 2011 (Blue Sky (or Not!) II CX/Euclid)
- Oct. 29, 2010 (Solon/Chagrin River CX – Day 1)
- Oct. 30, 2010 (Solon/Chagrin River CX – Day 2)
- Nov. 6, 2011 (CRC/Solon)
- Nov. 13, 2011 (Spin/Location TBD)

All these prospective races come with a potential Single Speed CX Category that the Centurion will own, maybe co-own. The currently hypothetical SSCX race would be Open and only 30 minutes. Which leaves me to think that with a little extra effort over the summer and spring, I could possibly race that, and then still have some gas in the tank to race the B's. Singlespeed then too... of course

I am excited, are you?

snow

winter is back.....so are the fenders, the layers, the gloves that never quite keep warm, and the totes galoshes because waterproof booties are out of my price range. I hope to keep some form this winter. We'll see, the past two winters I've gained 10-15 lbs and then lost it in the spring. I don't want to do that again. I like riding in the winter, I always feel like there is less traffic. I doubt thats quantitatively accurate. Nonetheless, crisp morning rides where everything is muffled by the snow are to me, a great way to get the day going. Of course, not everything is gumdrops and rainbows.

Two years ago I broke a blood vessel in my eye straining so hard to ride up a hill going home during a snowstorm.

There is also the random wipeouts due to ice on the road. Usually once are year I'm just riding along and then zing! I'm sitting on the ground wondering what happened as my bike spins away from me.

And how could I forget my first full Cleveland winter of riding, back when I had virtually no technical gear. Riding to school during the day and working as a server at Aladdin's at night. One night at work at Aladdin's my right foot started burning. Just a little at first, but then it got worse and soon my left foot started burning. Though I've never had athlete's foot, I thought man this must be athlete's foot. I trotted across the street and purchased some athlete's foot medication from the convenient store, and rubbed all over my inflamed feets. WOW was I wrong. My feet went from burning to holy sh#*# what did I do? shove my feet in a coal furnace! Wrong move, bad form misdiagnosis. Turns out they were frost bitten. Now I know what not to do....

bog of eternal stench

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daaaaaaamn '87 cx nats superbog

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also a video of the day 1 A race from the 2010 Chagrin River Cyclocross Challenge