For you co2cycle

http://thepinhook.wordpress.com/

The picture I took one day while working on a bike with this sticker on it. 

riding little/blogging less

The holiday season always throws my riding schedule out of wack, and getting sick didn't help any. Not to mention the fact that upon my return to visit the family in Oregon, I discovered at least a foot of snow. A foot of snow is trouble in a place like the greater Portland-Metropolitan area, where the snowplow-to-fixter ratio is about 1:10,000. I didn't have a bike there, so it didn't matter. And since this blog is about cycling and not about trail running, I won't talk about trail running in the snow except for the point that trail running in the snow is fun and I should start a blog about it.

In any event, I'm mostly non-sick now ("non-sick" is different than "well"), so I've resumed bicycle riding and even racing, which I did this weekend with Jay, and which I will write about soon.

The other preview of a blog entry I'll throw you is my conversation with former pro cyclist/current anti-doping maverick/future possible Kid Rock entourage member, Matt DeCanio. I ran into him at a Christmas party and he is one interesting dude.

The other pre-Christmas party I attended was Emma H's birthday at the Pinhook. (The Pinhook is the new downtown bar and I realize that to the folks who have left Durham, there is something sobering and depressing about hearing about new bars that have opened up where old friends are now getting together to get alcohol.) The bar is the new de-facto hangout for local fixters. The event was also blogworthy due to the presence of some of the area's cycling luminaries including a bunch of dudes from Performance Bike's corporate offices and Gaynor, the former owner of the fabled Bull City Cycles (no relation to Bull City Cycling). Yes, once, there was another bike shop in Durham where now only Alivia's stands. Also, Emma's husband Pete (of Bobkestrut/cyclingnews.com fame) commissioned an awesome cake from Mad Hatter's Bakery featuring a deftly frosted picture of Tom Selleck. I don't have pictures, but it did make the Mad Hatter's hall of fame--they probably have a picture on file there.

Okay, so stay tuned for more crap.

Formerly the Performance Ride...

but still fast, ATMO. Jay, O. Gangster, the Professor, are out racing this weekend while I hung on for my first fast ride of the year. Humph.

Winter Cup: Cross Report; number: 1, (&) 2...

The NC Winter Cup is literally off to a running start. For real, I think I wound up running on Sunday about as much as I was in the saddle (before crashing out). The Saturday race in Salisbury had some decent weather and felt fast. The course was the same as the NCCX Series, a little more mud but it still felt familiar. Sunday on the other hand was a mess. Rain the night before had saturated the ground and the previous races had sliced the course up, turning it into a sticky mud pit. Fortunately, sticky mud pit equates to super-fun racing and it was also cool that the course went around SECCA (former NCSA grad what can I say?). That said, Jay rocked out both days finishing 3rd and 3rd. Way to go! I felt good and finished 11th on Sat. but lost it in the mud on Sun. and rolled an ankle on the second lap. Oh well, that's bike racing.

Hey! Pictures!


Sunday before the race. If you can't tell, I can barely contain myself.
The pictures don't give the mud credit, the back stretches through the woods were almost just as fast on foot as in the saddle.Upon seeing this one Jay said it best himself: "Hey, look at me! I took the 8 year old on the tiny hill." (the Juniors and CX4s race concurrently)


More to Come!

Happy New Year

Blame it on the snow (yeah! yeah!)

(All apologies to Milli Vanilli for corrupting their lyric masterpiece.)

I'd heard that it snowed in Albany, that there were such things as snow emergencies, and that there were times that you needed to budget an hour to shovel your car out of its parking spot, but until this last Friday these stories all sounded like attempt to pull one over on the silly little southerner. In fact, it seems that all of these things are painfully true.

Friday brought us somewhere around ten inches of snow in the matter of a few hours. Once we'd gotten six or so inches I figured it had to be about to stop (I mean, god doesn't have that much dandruff, does he?), so I ignored my better judgement and took to the streets, General Lee-style.

And lo there was ripping. And the ripping was good.

As it turns out, my marginal skillz are unaffected by what skiers refer to as a powder day. When you're already pretty challenged in terms of your shredability, the addition of snow makes everything a little more difficult, but also increases your margin of error. My four inches of bunnyhopability was constant and I still couldn't do a bar spin, but then again I didn't break myself, either.

I had backup along, so I was able to grab a few pics. Here I'm basically showing the very peak of my skills, the rarely seen snow-bound trackstand. Behold it's brilliance.

Since it normally is only light up here for like seven hours a day, during the snowstorm we were reduced to like four. It was already getting dark at this point in the afternoon, though it was only a little after four.

The very pinnacle of my trickery.

This was all pretty rad on Friday, and my amusement extended into Saturday. However, as it's continued to snow, and I've had to dig my car out twice, gotten stranded in the Albany airport for all of Sunday, and seen all of the world disappear under a blanket of white for the next three month, my love for the white stuff has diminished. I'm planning a New Year's Eve shredathon regardless of temperatures (and sobriety level); pics may not follow.

I hope you're all getting to ride some down south. Happy holidays from the Northcountry!

Hollywood-Rock Racing: Questions Answered

We've had a lot of inquiries since this image from last weekend's US Cyclocross Nationals in Kansas City appeared on the internet. Lots of folks wrote in to ask if Hollywood was previewing the now budget-challenged Rock Racing's 2009 team kit. If so, it was a marketing coup.

NCCX Final Race Report!

Well, the North Carolina Cyclo-Cross Series has finally drawn to an end. After the dust settled (or rather, the mud flacked off) our very own Andrew A. Oishi finished at a respectable 14th in the Pro/1/2 category. Not too shabby, especially out of a field nearly 60 strong. I myself limped into 19th in the CX4 category with our newest member Jay not too far behind. Not too bad for our first seasons racing. My only real disappointment is that I never got to employ my tactic of raising my bike over my head and screaming while clearing the barriers. Instead, it came out looking like this:



Where's the gusto? Where's the hoot-spah? Surly, my enemies would have cowered in fear at the sight of me casting off my exhaustion and fatigue and howling manically with my bike hoisted ready to strike them down battle-axe style. Oh well, there's always the Winter Cup.

Hollywood left off Rock Racing roster, Clerical error to blame

LOS ANGELES- The cycling world greeted news of next year's bifurcated Rock Racing program with a surprise earlier this week. After contracting a bevy of new talent, including former UCI Protour rider Baden Cooke, and swelling its roster to 27 riders, a number in excess of the maximum permited for UCI Continental teams, the squad announced it would be splitting into two teams. Riders downgraded to the Rock Racing amateur club team include reigning US national criterium champion Rahsaan Bahati. Bahati, however, indicated he is not worried in an interview with Cyclingnews. Local observers were also surprised by the announcement. Many had expected the name of BCC-alumnus Hollywood to appear on the Rock Racing riders manifest. Reached for comment at his Rocky Mountain hide-away, the denim clad Hollywood reacted to the news: "I am sure there has been a glitch somewhere and I am not the only rider to be effected. Like Rahsaan, I expect to be riding the big races next year in Rock Racing colors. Michael Ball and I have spoken and we agree that I'm here to stay. Starting on the club team is not a problem. I expect to move up to the A-squad to ride alongside Tyler and do the Giro di Lombardia and perhaps the World Championships. Those are good races for me."

Gesamtkunstwerk in foam-noodle

So rare is it that you see yourself reflected in a work of art that I was compelled to post it up. Besides serving as a metaphor for my spritual and political views, I feel this piece also functions as an allegory for Tuesday's MTB excursion (I'm the old lady to the left, obviously).




If you haven't already, go strait to www.brandonbird.com for some of the funniest and strangely engaging art I've seen in a good long while.

Singlespeeds on Tuesday

The plan was hatched Monday night at the shop. A road ride was proposed but the Professor upped the ante to mountain bikes. The next day he and I found ourselves behind the Bimbo truck with Original Gangster. After noting what was humorously gained and lost when considering the deliciousness of baked goods in translation and crawling through traffic that had been blocked on I-40 by arbitrary road closures, we made to Crabtree. There, fun times ensued. We ran into Chris H. at the new dirt jumps. He demurred to execute a 360 tabletop despite our calls to do so. Leaving him to his fun, we pushed the pace on the trails. I came home and spent the rest of the day avoiding any serious thoughts. A great Tuesday.

We do roll on Shabbas

Unlike Walter.