Monday, January 11, 2010

we race the bikes


If you read this "blog" regularly, or even semi-irregularly, you've probably concluded that (1) we spend a lot of time reading other cycling websites and blogs, (2) we spend a lot of time thinking about the awesomeness of new bicycles and bicycle-related accessories, (3) we spend a lot of time thinking about our own awesomeness, (4) we spend a lot of time crafting fine and true lyrical verses, and (5) we spend a lot of time drinking. (Some members actually don't drink, but most of the guys who don't blog actually drink enough to make up for those guys.)

Let it also be known that sometimes, we do ride bicycles. Sometimes training, often racing. And during these winter months when smart cyclists focusing their training on the upcoming road racing season, BCC has opted to hit the winter cyclocross series in full force.

Full Force (not to be mistaken with Bull City Cycling, the New York Dolls, or a complete Sram Force Gruppo)

And by full force, I don't mean Full Force (although we do all have awesome pectoral muscles and some of us rock the white shoes). In fact, we showed strong representation in the NCCX winter cup races this weekend. Ben, Corey, Jay, Linus, and I got busy not one time, but two times, once in Salisbury and once in Mooresville. Take that, Full Force. Due to work obligations Geoff was only able to get busy one time, but he still earned his place in the above photo. I have no actual photos, but I can say that it was cold. Not this cold:



but not this hot:




Results in brief:
Ben improved from 13th on Saturday to 8th on Sunday, but was beaten by a well rested Geoff who took 7th on Sunday.
Corey took a 28th on Saturday and 33rd on Sunday.
Jay is back from the injured reserve list, finishing 8th on Saturday and 11th on Sunday.
Linus 6th on Saturday and 9th on Sunday.
I took 5th on Saturday, won $15 (after a $20 entry fee), forgot to pre-register and had to pay an extra $10 for Sunday's race where I finished 8th, where I received neither cash nor the advertised vegetarian chili. They did have a cup of cold penne pasta, which I graciously accepted.

True, you could be spending the precious daylight hours carefully building base miles and doing some weight training in the evenings to get yourself in prime shape for the road season. On the other hand, you could do things the BCC way and spend most of the day driving to race flat-out for less than one hour, wrecking your legs and lungs, finally turning to french fries for recovery food. We don't necessarily do things the smart way, but in case you didn't notice, we do things the awesome way. Or at least, we like to think we do things the awesome way. Either way, we will definitely write about the awesomeness of our ways.

4 comments:

John Miles said...

Nice work men. It sounds like you guys have really kicked off the new year in style. Maybe not Full Force style, or even Hollywood-in-the-buff style, but high style nonetheless.

Word.

Korps said...

Talking about getting ready for some road racing, The 2010 Winter Speedway Races start on Sat, Jan 30 and Sat, Feb 6, at OCS.. See USA Cycling for more info. Also team, don't forget to update your license for the new year.+

miniweesh said...

Nice work brother; earning less prize money than the entry fee is the hallmark of true "professional amateur" bike racing financing. Actually, I'm just jealous that a) we don't have a January season in the frozen north and, b) there is never any payout for finishing mid pack in cat 4 races.

co2cycle said...

payout is weird. it's typically so low that only a couple of guys (typically the same guys each week) will recover anything more than gas money. and causing someone to miss out on $10 or $15 when they get outsprinted at the line doesn't help to build camaraderie between cyclists. i vote for reimbursement of entry fees to the top 5 in each field, plus $20 payouts for random finishers in all fields.