WORS #2: a few pics from Rhinelander

It's pretty lame that I have already done about 5 mountain bike races (and, shockingly enough, 3 crits and one road race) and haven't posted a race report yet! It's not for lack of things to say, I have written plenty of posts in my head. This post will continue that reportless state, however. (The road events were an experiment, by the way, after years away from road racing.)

In the meantime, some have wondered, when hearing I was headed for the WORS race in Rhinelander last weekend, why one would drive so far for a race. In answer, I am going to put a couple of pics up that were taken for the WORS photo contest. There may be more later. I was in the feed zone for much of the elite race, so I got very few action pics. I ended up with lots of venue pics, sponsor banner pics, and candids (contest categories). Blogger is not letting me upload many pics, it keeps getting hung up, so those three will have to do for now.

I wonder if the economy has gotten so bad in the north woods that even the ticks are trying to hitch rides to the big city to look for work. That is what I had to think last night when I found a tick attached to my shoulder. I panicked and headed straight for the tweezers! At least this time I knew what it probably was. Whereas on Sunday driving home I felt what I thought was a scab on my neck under my chin. I plucked it off and looked at it ...... ewwwww, a brown bug with lots of legs!! I realized it was probably a tick and my knee-jerk reaction was to fling it away from me. A moment later I realized that was a terrible idea - now I was going to wonder where it was and if it was crawling on me for hours while driving home!! I tried leaving the door open at the rest stop for a few extra minutes, hoping it would leave. Really loud music may or may not have induced it to crawl into hiding somewhere in the car. Or, it may have been the same one that ended up on my shoulder, in which I guess I have to grudgingly appreciate its persistence. It had almost made it's way back to it's original spot on my neck. It's surprising that in years of mt. bike racing I have never gotten a tick - or at least have known about it - until now. If you went to Rhinelander, check yourself and your gear for ticks!!

Which one are you?

This link about the types of bike commuters just came my way. You'll notice the date. If you are a commuter you'll recognize many of your fellow commuters here.

My condolences to Holly K. on the sudden loss of her dad this morning.

Up Close and Personal at Paris Roubaix

This video link fell into my mailbox. It offers a brief window into the up-close craziness of Paris-Roubaix 2009! It really gives you a sense of how close the spectators are in some sections.



Here's another one with some crashes etc. out on the open road.



And, this is probably what my face is going to resemble this weekend as I take on my first mt bike race of the season. I haven't even been on my mt bike yet, at all. I did just get a little check-up at the bike shop this week, so hopefully it's good to go, even if I'm not!!

Good Luck to everyone headed out to CA for Sea Otter!! Should be super fun, whether you are racing, working, or both!

Podium Shoes

I just learned something new today. I kind of suspected something like this existed, but now I know for sure. Podium Shoes! Contador is wearing them in this photo, surrounded by, of course, podium girls.

That's a niche market, if I've ever seen one!

Can you see running to your car to change into your podium shoes at a WORS race?

By the time you read this you will have heard the news that Kettle is open for riding today! Holly is out there riding today and says that the trail are bone dry with lots of leaves and about 5 downed trees. Sounds like she's having a blast.

It's too bad that these days I am only posting about things like podium shoes. I have some deadlines and a test to study for so hopefully after that I'll be able to do a recap post of everything I haven't been writing about for the last month or so!

New Products just in time for April

Some things you might want to check out today if you haven't seen them yet.

New heated saddle line from Sidi. I think Julie is going to be one of the first ones to try a prototype. You can ask her about it.

But this is something that could be truly revolutionary. It's the inForm® Full Carbon Clavicle Upgrade. Now, if you have a mishap and break your collarbone, there will be no wondering what's holding things together. You can have the best, just like Lance.

I know that I always wondered if the surgeon should have put a titanium plate in my wrist/arm instead of a stainless steel one to hold things together while the bone graft "took" after a nasty criterium accident. It was a Sunday, though, and that's what they had in stock at the small hospital in Wisconsin. It didn't even occur to me to ask if they could use a titanium plate. And carbon, I don't think that was even in the range of possibilities. Now you can ask for your bodily repair parts by brand name, and they will match your bike parts. It's so Pro.

This One makes you Fat

This landed in my inbox today, courtesy of Dana B. in Minneapolis.

Here's a video of a really good "save" on a fast downhill, as well.

Don't Hate me because I'm a Bicyclist

Check out this anti-cyclist podcast about "The Bicycle Trail of Death" on the March 25 post. This was originally broadcast on a radio station. Scary. Thanks to Tim S. for pointing this one out.

On a happier note, I made it out for the first two segments of Half Acre's Kevin's crits. Monday was chilly and gray. Tuesday's races had a little rain, but not too bad. I had thought about racing, although I haven't done a crit in a long time and feel out of shape and out of practice. For various reasons, I ended up going to help out instead. On Monday I helped at registration. It was obvious how much it helps to have almost everyone preregistered! On Tuesday Erica and Mike had it down to an art and didn't need help. It seems to me that our first time crit promoter friends at Half Acre Cycling have done a really nice job of pulling off five races in a week! Think about it, who else but stage races and Super Week attempts to do that?





Thanks to Half Acre Cycling for being such good citizens of racing and creating an opportunity for the less experienced categories to get some race experience compressed into a short time.





If you started out by racing at Kenosha last Sunday, you could do eight (!) races in a row from last Sunday to next Sunday! And then you'd need to sleep for a week...

Mash-Up Video

Amazing that someone had the patience to do this. Kinda interesting mash-up video!

Victory Salute Like a Pro

It's getting to be the time of year where some of the tips in this article about how to Victory Salute like a Pro might come in handy. Theoretically.

If nothing else you'll get a kick out of the pics of all the various victory salutes.

Upside Down Car

As I was driving home from the gym, there were all these police cars with flashing lights passing me. And a fire truck went roaring by as well. When I got home there were flashing lights everywhere about a half block away. I went to check it out. This is the second time in the last couple of months that I have come home minutes after a serious accident almost, but not quite, in front of my house.

I don't quite understand how it got upside down. It obviously got hit on the side you can see. The car was pointed in the wrong direction, but otherwise was not at an angle. It was lined up with traffic, just pointed the wrong way. The cops asked me if a Jeep that was parked on the side was mine, so they must have thought that car was somehow involved. It looked just like another parked car to me. The ambulance was just sitting there, so the driver must not have been hurt, or else another ambulance must have already left. (Update: A neighbor said she heard a terrible sound, and it took a while before any emergency vehicles showed up. Then she saw them putting someone on a stretcher into an ambulance, which left. That had to be the red car's driver)

I didn't want to get any closer to get better pictures because I was afraid the cops would tell me I wasn't allowed to take pics, or try to take my camera. I turned off the flash for that reason. More pics on flickr.

NAHBS, yeah!

The trip to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show was super fun! I guess it's always better to leave wishing you could stay just a little longer, and feeling like you didn't get to see everything and talk to everyone. And to think I almost didn't go, since I was still feeling awful from being sick all week. I wanted to post pics here, but I don't have time for a long blog post now. I did spend some time uploading many of the photos to flickr. There should be a few more later in the week. My pics are only a sample of what was at the show - I spent more time talking to people than taking pics, so there are a lot of cool bikes I missed getting pics of.

Curious about who won the awards at the show? I was too. We left just as the awards were starting, so I didn't know who won until today.

If you'd like to see more alot more photos and in much greater detail from some people who were at the show longer, you can go to Olive Loves Cool Bicycles.

Yikes!

Someone I know who sends out interesting email articles and links from time to time sent out a fresh crop yesterday. There were some thought-provoking and disturbing articles/videos about our economy and also some about the direction our health care system is headed in. If you have an interest in the dire (as in, don't listen to the video if the economy is already keeping you awake at night) economic predictions you can find one of the links here. I had not heard of these people until I got the emails, so I know nothing about the trend forecaster or his track record. Hopefully he's wrong.

On a side note, I was going to post some pics of the weekend (COG party and x-c skiing) but my printer is not recognizing my memory card. Says memory card error. No idea why. I've never used this type of card before. Grrr.

The Yellow Devil

If you haven't seen it yet, here is an awesome photo sequence of Lance pushing the Yellow Devil into a snowbank at Tour of California! The yellow devil has traded a pitchfork for a different, more controversial, implement. It may have been in the TV coverage - but I missed it.

Ooops!

Disregard the post you may have read earlier here about an upcoming race. I wrote it very late at night and wasn't paying attention to the dates. I have been too wrapped up in things other than bike racing!!

Last Week

Cyclocross Worlds link

A possible Cross Worlds link to a live feed, courtesy of Brian Matter. I'm not sure what the secret is for getting it to work, I don't know Flemish or Dutch! It may have just been the wrong time when I tried it, or I may have the wrong browser. Try early Sunday morning for the elite riders? If you get it to work, tell us how!! This is what he sent out Saturday morning. it could change before Sunday if he gets new info, so check his blog.

Update: A little bit of blog reading tells me people have been out riding and running today. I am headed out of the xc skis this afternoon. I want to go a few more times before the snow becomes a sloppy mess....if that hasn't already happened.

Dream Race?

I guess it's that time of the year for a little wishful thinking. You probably read about the BC Bike Race last year. I remember reading some great first-hand accounts of the race. But June sent me an email with a link to their web site today. She also mentioned something about winning the lottery.... or needing to in order to be able to do this race.

So, if you have a spare $2250 sitting around, you need to find your teammate(s) by Feb 1st, which is creeping up quickly. Someone ought to try this! I bet this one would be a good one for Chris and one of his WBR teammates, if he didn't have big endurance plans already for this season... anyone have some free time and a generous sponsor?

It's worth looking at the web site just to see pictures of the course. There was one picture in particular that made me want to hop on a bike and jump into the photo .... I found some great photos by clicking on the registered riders. I wish someone I know would go do it, just to come back and tell us all about it. And, no, I wouldn't sign up - it's way above my skill level. BTW, the entry fee covers EVERYTHING. They make it really easy for the riders - they take care of everything!

(oh, and don't miss reading about the night race below!)

Night Race, Daily Random Flickr Blogging, and Thanks!

Have you ever heard of Daily Random Flickr Blogging? I hadn't, until I ran across one of my pics from the Woodstock cross race on this blog. The blogger, who picks a random flickr pic to blog about every day, titles my pic "Amsterdam Gothic" and it turns out it's a pic of Helge of Half Acre Cycling and his new-at-the-time dog!

A big thanks goes out to Al of WEMS for his always creative awards! Nice!! Mine arrived today - it's a mug (or maybe it would be called a beer stein, not sure) with my name and team on one side and the overall series place, race category, and year of the other. I'll try to get a pic up later. I'm always impressed with how much effort and thought he puts into the awards. Thanks Al! And thanks to all of the WEMS directors for putting on a great series.

A note in the box with a schedule mentions that this year they will be doing a NIGHT RACE called the "Twelve Hours of Pitch Black Singletrack" in September at Cam-Rock! Could be interesting! Great name, too. That is one of the few places where I have actually ridden off-road at night! One year (2003?) Tawnya and I went up to get a Trek hq tour from friends who worked there, then that night we went night riding with the Trek peeps and then hung out around a bonfire the rest of the evening. The night riding was, fun, though challenging for me. I wonder if having much better lights than I did then would make any difference?

Cross on Cable

In case you don't already know this, thanks to Greg, there is some cross coverage this weekend on the Universal Sports cable channel. It's 251 on some local Comcast stations. Yesterday's cycling coverage turned out to be CrossVegas coverage, which should be repeated this weekend. Greg also mentions that Cross Worlds coverage is being advertised in commercials, and may be on soon.

I am very disappointed that I wasn't able to watch this. I found channel 251, but there was no picture! Just the "one moment please" in a blue box, and the description of the show that's supposed to be on. I called Comcast today and they said that I can't get that channel in my area! She said that my area must not be upgraded or something. I also missed the mt biking coverage listed as being on after the Cross race. I hope it works for some of you!!

As for my extreme lack of updating... there has been plenty to write about, and I have wanted to! I never posted about Cross nationals, for one. Writing and editing a blog post is a long process for me. Instead, I am trying to do some stuff that had been pushed aside during years of racing every weekend. I am trying to start on some of these projects while I can. I know what will happen as soon as the weather starts to improve!

As for trying to keep fit and burn off the winter calories, a week or so ago I got out the x-c skis and have been doing some of that. A little snowshoeing, too. Otherwise, alot of the elliptical trainer at the gym! A text I sent to a friend who needed a little motivation to get to the gym: gym = smaller pants.

I wish it were truly that simple!

The Marshmallow Test

After I read this article today about the apparently well-known "marshmallow test", I found myself wondering if I would have passed that test as a four-year-old, or if I would pass it now. I decided that I would, but mainly because a single marshmallow isn't that tempting to me. Now put something I am craving in front of me, and I'm not so sure...but I'm curious how my young nephew would do. The premise is that a kid is told if he can sit and wait (for what turns out to be 20 minutes) until the adult comes back without eating the marshmallow, he can have two when the adult returns. Kids who are able to wait do better later in life in many areas. The article above just touches on it, but a google search yielded some more detailed articles on the subject, as well as even some religious interpretations relating to other impulses, which you'll have to find yourself!

(looking for images was fun - did you know you can make a marshmallow bra, a solar-powered marshmallow roaster, and many more things you wouldn't think of? as long as you can resist eating them, that is....)