weather=warm+sunny

there is no better way to end a week, and start a week, then with a race. ha. this morning i felt pretty good. legs were not tired at all, rest of me felt well rested as well. So i took off solo to como park. i got there a bit early so i just hung out in the nice warm sun for about an hour. then i went on my warm up, and came across the state fair grounds. i rode around in it for a while. it was really really weird being there with no people and on a bike. crazy.

no line for the cookies

mighty mighty midway?

got milk? nope...

after that i went and rode the course. it was so friggin bumpy i thought i might die. pothole everywhere. everywhere. and even the sidewalk/bike path the race went on were terrible. so after that i lined up and the race was off. quite a big race i might add. dont know how many, but seemed big. i had a bad start and got stuck behind lots of people on the bike up and run up. no good. so i had lost a bit there, finally it spread out and i was movin up and feelin good. i think at 3 or 4 laps in the guy i was behind took a corner to sharp and went down, i proceded the get my foot on his hood, and shin braced against the flat of the bars. all my momentum and weight went right into my shin, it hurt a lot. i also twisted my hip funny. for the next half lap i was recovering from that so i lost quite a bit of time. once the pain receeded i just went, i made up a little ground but with that incident i lost the back of the group i was in. so i chased for the rest of the race. my back hurt a bit, but i tried not to pay attention to that and just bike. it worked pretty well. eventually i caught some of the guys from the group. but not the ones i wanted. so despite the crash the race went pretty well. i still think i can bring it up a notch though, just really need to work on my start.
we will see what happens on the home turf next weekend!

look familiar? well it is. my scar (not scab) got ripped open again...

a little better

today was the red barn cx race, up in taylors falls. last years was my first cross race ever.
i finally got my rd wheels back from ben and since they are tough they can be used for cross. i threw those on because that are a whole lot faster than the stock wheels.
the weather looked warm, but was surprisingly cold. and the wind kept getting stronger. drafting was actually useful today. instead of starting super fast today i went out a little slower. i think i ended up a few spots ahead of usual. one guy that has beaten me finished behind today. i also only got lapped by the first 2 guys, not the usual 5 or 6. for some reason i was not really wanting to race today, so that played a big role in how hard i went. i definatley could have gone harder, but with not a whole lot of desire its difficult. but today went alright, so i want to race again tomorrow. hopefully i can pick it up quite a bit. only one way to find out!
they were giving out stuff at the race today, like water bottles and such. so i collected those. 4 total, haha, and whatever else is in the bag. i also got a free jersey, even though it is way way to big. but hey ive got some xmas shopping done then. ha!
and my back did not hurt a whole lot today. a bit, but nothing like last time. ive decided that it might be a mix of running all hunched over, a little bit the bike, and part the mattress. the new one is great by the way.
also i feel that for the shape i am in i am not doing as well as i should be at cross. i dont really know why. but hopefully it is just lack of experience. so i guess i just have to keep racing to remedy that.

el back

during races i have been getting some back pain, i mean real back pain. it has gotten progressively worse each race, and last race it really really hurt. it starts at about 20 minutes into the race and just keeps getting worse. last race i had a great first 25 minutes. right up there where i wanted to be, then the pain came. it hurts so much i cant't push it at all so i just fall back one place at a time. it sucks. at some points i could have breathed through my nose only. my legs werent tired either, its really frusterating since i know i can do a ton better.
i realized that i dont remember problems from before getting to school. and if it gets worse each race (does not hurt much at all in training), something i use every day is the problem. so either it is my mattress for my bed here, which i got replaced today. or my bike. which again if it does not hurt during trainging wouldnt make a whole lot of sense. so hopefully my new mattress will take care of the problem, if not i dont know what i am going to do.

update

November 5. St. Olaf campus. Cyclo-cross race. be here.

pictures from last weekend


in the woods

steep?

spirit mnt. round 2

today was the cx race at spirit. a rematch of me and the mountain from this summer.
the A race was massive. and i managed a top 10. and won the a2. haha! by massive i mean 9 people.
the course was decent. a long climb with a barrier in the middle then some gravel then trail then gravel. the first two laps i felt pretty good. keeping up pretty well. on the 3rd lap i was running up the hill next to sean and my legs just all of a sudden quit. i dont really know much else then, they just simply did not want to work. that was at about 20 minutes. then next 20 minutes i felt like crap. then at 40ish my legs decided to work again. kinda strange. but it was too late sean had already gotten 2 minutes on me. but i held strong and might have even gained back a bit of time on him by the end. but dont know for sure.
hopefully next race i will feel good the whole time. i think part of the problem today was that i had not ridden for two days prior to racing. wont do that again...
my parents got some good pictures but the computer here at home cant download them for some reason. ill put them up when i get back to school.

well the cold came.

as my title suggests it got cold. in fact it has been snowing off and on for the last 2 days. i dont mind biking in the snow, but when the cold northwest wind is blowing at 30 mph it makes things hard.
yesterday i rode fairly easy then played hard in the intramural frisbee championship game. we finally won. our 6th final. wahoo. free t-shirt! not only did that go well but i had two essays and a test yesterday, all went well. a goood day.

i dont know if ive mentioned it before, but we have been trying to get a cross race at olaf for about a month now. e-mails stopped working so the last few days ive been calling and showing up in person at offices. it worked. as long as USA Cycling approves it all on nov. 5th there will be a cross race on campus. sweet!
ive also seen some snow accumulation today. in october?


the sun came out for a bit yesterday, made for a nice picture.

here comes the cold

last saturday i had a birthday party to go to, and i would not have made it back from a race in time. and sunday i just did not feel like spending 20 bucks so i rode 2.5 hours hard. with some run ups and a whole lot of barrier practice. then had the first playoff game for frisbee. yesterday i was feelin tired so i did an hour easy then tried hard in playoff game 2. which we destructed our rival and are going to be going for the t-shirt once again. im confident in the team this year. tomorrow is the big game. and supposedly it is going to snow. it is going to be an epic game, thats for sure. now that the cold is here, biking is going to get really cold. uh-oh, i might have to start ski practice soon. this morning i did, did the roller board and did well for not ever using my arms.

on another note, we all know Ullrich was fired from T-Mobile, he lives near Konstanz. One day he brought all his T-mobile clothes into one of the shops. My bike friends over there let me know of this oppurtunity, i ordered some things. Its gonna be sweet. I will have Jans polo shirt. haha!

tired

well for some reason my legs are just not working right for me. they seem to be tired to often, or just not have enough power. i dont think i am training to hard, but maybe i am. but i think that if someone pays for a professional message for me all the troubles will go away. who wants to volunteer?
sean has a bunch of pictures and such up on his blog from recent rides. check it out.

a bit better

saturday i headed over to wisconsin to race in the mn cyclo cross series?? it went decently well. the course had some issues, such as running in sand and basically biking in the river. but other than that it was ok. i felt lots better than last week which is good, but i am still not where i want to be. ill just keep on training then i guess! i also got to see the dogs and the parents, so that was fairly nice.


a day on the beach?

i can fly!!