experiment

In an on going effort to do all that I can to not purchase a cyclocross bike I have begun a new experiment to transform my single speed cross bike over into the geared world. I really enjoy single speed cross, and my motives to switch are not entirely performance inspired, just mostly so.... so to say. I just want to try racing with a gear bike to see if it makes that much of a difference. If it does I'll keep it, if it doesn't I'll keep it until its time to tune up the rear derailleur and then change back to single speed. I have always been a firm believer in the adage "a poor carpenter blames their tools", but I do believe tools have their limits I saws-all cuts a lot faster than a regular hand saw. Of course I'm not adding an electric motor to my bike...
I don't really have to money available to spring for a new derailleur and cassette and index shifters. I do however have an old sun tour 8 speed index shifter set from an old gt mountain bike that was given to me. The original drive-train on the Centurion was friction shifting. So with a little elbow grease and some major wheel trueing the Centurion single speed is now a Centurion 8 speed. I had to get ride of the drop bars to accommodate the mountain bike style shifter. Not too much of a loss, I never road in the drops anyways. I'm excited to ride in the fast and shifty new world of geared bicycles.

kent state stark cx

part 1.
Though we were promised cx weather on the facebook race bump, we instead received nice sunshine bringing in a breezy mid-60s Saturday. Not too much to write home about my performance during the race. The course was fast and dry, with a long uphill and some really tall barriers. I felt alot better than I did at Wendy Park, however my place ratio was about the same. Around the third or fourth lap there was a section in the early part of the circuit were the course made a bumpy crossing over an asphalt path and then took a blind left curve around a pine tree immediately followed by a right curve. These weren't so much turns as they were quick little S curve jars. Anyways I don't quite remember how it happened but I think it went down like this. The guy in front of me checked is speed through the curves which cause me to react which cause the guy behind me to run into my rear wheel. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzt and then he went down and somersaulted a couple of times with his bike. Someone from the peanut gallery shouted 'Nice Wreck!' I didn't quite know what to do. I haven't been party to a wreck were the result was I was still on my bike. I slowed down and looked back to wait, but when no one else did and the wreckee quickly got up and got back on his bike I took off again. I'm still not sure what the sportsman thing to do is. I ended up briefly chatting with the fellow after the race and he said there's nothing wrong with just going on with the race, and in fact thats just part of the race. Someone nearby chimed in "thats racin' cross man'.
As said before not much to write home about. The weather was beautiful, I felt good and had fun. My friend David T. crashed out in the last lap. What a bummer, but he still had a good attitude about it.
Next race for me wont be till Oct 17th gotta keep training , riding or something... also a little time to catch up on school work.

part 2.
Kent state stark is not that far from Cleveland, maybe a little over an hour. But it's far enough to for me and my lady to feel it warranted a hotel room. (we don't really get out much) And thats what we did. Using the race as the foundation for our "Canton Romance Getaway Extravaganza' we purchased a Saturday night spa package at the McKinley Grand hotel in vibrant downtown Canton. We chose this place mainly because "Grand" was in the name. The package included an awesome cx race in Kent - Stark, diner for two at the slightly cheesy hotel restaurant, and couples massage from some spa. Every thing at the hotel was nice. Pretty run of the mill, nothing extravagant. The restaurant was a little run down but the food tasted good. After that, all I can say is that massages are awkward, this not the fault of the masseur.

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.