wendy park cx

Oh to be fast. Maybe one day. Maybe one day I'll buy an actual cross bike. Maybe I'll start my own business too. The opportunity cost of "fast" will probably be poor grades which are much more unacceptable than a poor finish. $25 to race $60000 for school hmmmm.. I'm sure I can figure something out cause damn I'm slow. My boss, an old cat 2 racer, insists that I should add P90x to my routine. I dunno I'm skeptical about any work out that involves wailing guitars, xtreme camera shots, and shares the same name as a gun from the N64 game James Bond Golden Eye . Yesterday was the first race of my much anticipated (by me and my three cats) sophomore cyclocross season. And much like last year it was a pretty dismal show. The staple mishaps of last year proudly returned in oh10, miscalculating turns, unclipping up steep hills and getting passed while spinning out on straightaways. The only thing epic is how unbelievably (epically) sore my legs are. It was a slooooow commute into work this morning. I did have fun on the 100 yard sand and broken glass section on the lake Erie shore. Perhaps proving once again I should focus on running those sections and not burning myself out trying to muscle through them all macho-like. Still had fun though, and getting some grub at the Old Angle was even better! It should also be noted I did succeed in convincing two friends to race. Spreading the gospel of cyclocross just a little further, or for you fast folks out there increasing the fodder.

Cross oh-10

Ohio is beautiful in the fall, like a big ol' wedding cake. Cyclcross season is like icing on the cake. A very muddy painful icing that always ends up costing more money than you think it will. I'm looking forward to getting my butt kicked in the NEOCX series as well as participating in a few other races across the state. The Centurion is up and running with a new ( as of 1994) set of Dura Ace cranks given to me from the legendary Thom Dom. In addition to the cranks the Centurion has a shiny new surly singulator chain tensioner, which if it follows suit will last about a month before I start zip-tieing it to the frame.

I won't be able to make it to the spin weekly practices, but I feel that won't hold me back toooooo much.

North East Ohio Cyclocross
• Sept 4 – Lake Effect @ Manatoc (Sat afternoon race as part of the Big Valley weekend – see special start times listed below)
• Sept 12 – Spin @ Wendy Park
• Sept 25 – Stark Velo @ Kent State (Stark Campus)
• Oct 8-10 – (Non Series) - UCI3 Cincinnati
• Oct 17 – CRC – Kevin Kimmich @ Solon
• Oct 24 – SnakeBite @ Elyria
• Oct 30 - Solon Bike – Brett Davis @ his parents/Chagrin Falls
• Oct 31 – Solon Bike – Brett Davis @ his parents/Chagrin Falls
• Nov 7 – Spin @ Willoughby (* TENTATIVE)
• Nov 14 – Open <— YOUR RACE HERE
• Nov 21 – Lake Effect @ Kirtland Park
• Nov 28 – (Non Series) – Ohio State Cyclocross Championships

Ohio Valley Cyclocross
September 19 Kings CX; Cincinnati, Ohio
October 3 Tour de Louisville; Louisville, Kentucky
October 8 Cincinnati UCI3 - Devou Park UCI C2; Covington, Kentucky
October 9 Cincinnati UCI3 - Middletown UCI C2; Cincinnati, Ohio
October 10 Cincinnati UCI3 - Harbin Park UCI C1; Cincinnati, Ohio
October 17 DRT BloomingCross; Bloomington, Indiana
October 23 Derby City Cup USGP - UCI C1; Louisville, Kentucky
October 24 Derby City Cup USGP - UCI C2; Louisville, Kentucky
October 31 Eva Bandman STG; Louisville, Kentucky
November 7 Gun Club Cross; Cincinnati, Ohio
November 14 Infirmary Mound; Columbus, Ohio
November 21 Promotion Cross; Lexington, Kentucky
November 28 Buckingham Financial John Bryan OH Champs; Yellow Springs, Ohio
December 4 Ft Harrison; Indianapolis, Indiana
December 5 OVCX Finale - Brookside Cross Cup; Indianapolis, Indiana
Cap City Cross
9/5 - The Frankenbike 50 -- 50 mile dirt road/singletrack/road race/ride weird thing that we don't know how to describe but we hope will be REAL fun at Scioto Trail State Park

2010 Cap City Cross Race Series:
10/ 3 -- Big Run Soap Box Hill (southwest Columbus, excellent venue.)
10/17 -- Coffman Park - Dublin
10/31 -- Uncle Steves Halloween Race
and COLUMBUS CITY CHAMPIONSHIP!!!
11/14 -- Infirmary Mound OVCX
11/28 -- OVCX/Cap City State Champs at John Bryan
12/5 -- Smith Farm
12/12 -- Lobdell!

springles

been running more than I've been cycling all in hopes that having a stronger and faster running aaaand cycling base will bode well for the fall oh10 cyclocross season. the weather has been unseasonably nice. quickly melting away my tolerance for the cold. tomorrow will be mid 50's and rainy. less than a month ago that was t-shirt weather, but now it's a possible brrrrrr


bit of a close call here

sxsw

most vacations involve one or more of the following

-a temperate to tropical climate of warm sunniness
-a relaxing relatively easy schedule, or none at all
-time to unwind, whatever that means
-copious amounts of money to be easily spent
-dorky clothing
-who knows what else, the few vacations I took as a kid were never "relaxing"

Dorky clothing aside I arrived in Austin Tx with non of these. But tradition be damned and on a budget of under $150 (all dedicated to food and booze over 4 days) I was able to see 20+ national bands perform at venues all over Austin. And walked away with many lessons and a little tinnitus.

First lesson:
To the best of my understanding theirs a sort of hierarchy of purchase at sxsw. free/or cash shows are trumped by wrist bands which are superseded by the omni-badges. Wrist bands and badges are completely overrated. To make up the $160 investment one would have to attend primarily wristband only shows, and ignore that fact that many many times throughout the week a band that played a wristband show one day will often play a nonwristband show later in the week. Also with the exception of a few cases wristbands and badges could be substituted (like many things in life) with the loop hole of cold hard cash. Which also was only presented once while I was there, and it was a paltry $5.

Second Lesson:
Lone star makes you poop. I've never dropped the Browns of at the stadium so many times in one day as I did after my first night of Lone Star a la Carte. The inexpensive $2.00 took a much greater toll on my GI then my wallet.

Third Lesson:
Bring a good pair of shoes. Three days in a row our itinerary was from 12pm to 2am of non stop shows. All of them free and all of them within walking distance of the other. However all that "oh is just a few blocks away" really adds up, particularly when combined with all the standing around like terra cotta warriors of rock n roll.

Fourth Lesson:
Our biggest problem was being turned away from after party shows because we failed to rsvp properly. Though we did rsvp for a couple of venues there were some that were advertised as just a free show/party that up arrival were discovered to be rsvp only. So do the research. show list austin was an excellent resource but it still failed to provide all needed information, and sometimes left us hanging at 2am

Fifth Lesson:
sleep? on a vacation? seriously not necessary for this event.

Sixth Lesson:
Don't feed the crust punks. Also why do they all have dogs tied to ropes, isn't that just one more mouth to feed? And whats up with the all black motif (i know its got something to do with being an anarchist) I know they've never done anything antagonistic to me but damn stop asking for my second slice of pizza. Don't come between a bear and her cub or me and my pizza.

i'm sure I'll think of more lessons/non lessons and edit this post

sxsw ruled
top 5 best shows for me were
1)acid mothers temple .club 1808
2)this moment in black history .plush
3)japandroids .some club on w6th
4)some noisy female 2 piece whos name I can't remember .the french legation
5)efterklang .music gym

who knows all the sweet stuff i missed

springish

next week I'll be in austin
at sxsw with my cousin
who lives in austin

i'll probably be tweeting alot
http://www.twitter.com/alexanderk

we don't have too much planned other than to catch a few this moment in black history shows and as many acid mothers temple shows as we possibly can

I'm sure there will be plenty of other bands
my cousin is a big fan of the Austin locals the fm campers I have not heard them outside of myspace so we'll see

the past few years my interest in going out of my way to attend specific shows has certainly waned. though the frequency of show attendance has only declined a little, the intentions, and reasons I believe are now a bit more complacent, perhaps less dedicated then they were when I was younger. I'm sure I could spend some time and come up with a whole slew of reasons as to why, but instead I'm just going to say that now I just like going to good shows with good friends, and in Austin I don't care so much who I see as who I see it with.

got the 2010 usa cycling license the other day,
one hour on the trainer yesterday while watching the 2004 l'alpe duez time trial
aiming for two hours today to "hell on wheels"

tdfebruary

My friend Dave alerted me that one can get past Tour de France dvds from netflix. I find this to be pretty awesome. It's hard to convince people that watching a bike race can be fun and captivating. Each race has it own intense story arc which folds into the greater story of the tour. Which of course works its way into the soap opera season.
This argument can translate to most any sport which likens following professional cycling to following NASCAR or professional wrestling. What makes it so easy to get wrapped up in the back and forth teenage soap opera acts of attrition and verbal disputes between sprinters or the one man against the elements soliloquies of the the lone climbers ? the search for individual perfection through vicarious sources? Does the need for a reason matter? No, but its good to know I can watch tdf all year long if I wanted to...
Dave for example watches the old races while riding his indoor trainer. Off season training for cyclists is probably one of the most masturbatory activities one can partake. Faced with my first season of actually having a UCI license I am yet to start training for any road season. Though I should be.. While those like dave and many of my other cylcing compadres have been logging long hours on the trainer to tdf videos or movies or whatever scheme they can come up with to pass the inanity of stationary bike riding, I have been eating pizza and chicken fingers and making lists of what I should do to get ready for cycling and then usually falling asleep.
its cold and dreary
i know that once I start riding I'll be glad that I did.. its just getting over that first bump

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-worst-winter-weather-cities