All Dressed Up and Ready to Go (almost)

After a minor miscommunication with our uniform maker, the uniforms are finally being made. I'm going to say they should be in our hands in mid-February. This is about 2 weeks later than I wanted but still enough time to get them out to everyone for the start of the season. When they get here, I'll be sure to post them but I'm sure you will see us riding around town/races with them too.

This is Chad. If you can't tell by looking at him, he is all roadie. He's chowin' down on some good old fashioned holiday cheer. He could stand to put on a few pounds anyway.

Ahh. The Off-Season

Capt. Space Invader Shawn (left), Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White Tom (right), and I decided to go for a ride Saturday at the frozen Fairhill. Being the off-season less attention was paid to pace than normal. It was an awesome day for a ride. Crisp cool air. It just fills your lungs and really feels great. Shawn was riding his new GF Superfly, a full carbon 29er. Complete with an XO drivetrain (upgraded XTR cranks to boot). It is certainly a wonderful looking machine. That was until I plowed right into it. Here's my side of it though. We were cruising on a downhill section and my eyes watered up. When I cleared my vision, those two were at a dead stop in the middle of the trail. BAM! Fortunately, no damage. This was about 5 minutes into his first ride with the bike. At least we broke it in right? The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful (which was fine with Shawn).

The top picture is post crash, so you can see, it's fine. I think I would've felt a little bad had I messed it up. Just a little.

If you haven't been to Fairhill lately (or ever), go. It really is beautiful there right now. Some really nice frozen trails. By weeks end they will probably be soft and muddy though with the temps getting up into the 40's again. Trailspinners gets a little upset if you are riding them when they are soft. It's understandable. They put tons of hours in building them, so yahoos like us can crash into each other. Check out www.trailspinners.org.

'Tis the Season

Due to my fatigue at the end of the season I decided it was time to actually train. Not that I didn't in the past but I mean the real way. I hate running and swore that I didn't need to do it ever. Yesterday, I ran. I did a 4+ mile trail run in a drizzle. It wasn't too bad. I'm not ready for a marathon or anything but I did ok. The muscle groups used for running are completely different than those for cycling and boy howdy can I feel it. When I do biking motions, I feel great. When I walk, it hurts. I may have over did it because the longest I ever ran before yesterday was one, that's right, one mile. As in uno. 1.6 kilometers. I did this 4+ in under 40 minutes. It was soggy trail so not too shabby. The downhills were scary. I'm working on getting a core routine together. I just feel as though my bike legs need a rest for a few weeks. Not that I won't be biking but not training.

With the weather getting closer to staying below freezing the trails should be firming up. This makes for some of the best riding all year in my opinion. It's not race season. Kick back and enjoy the scenery. A good long ride at a nice even pace. Cool, crisp air. Some joking with friends. Can it really get any better?

The Kizzer

This story really begins a few weeks after Katrina. Staci and I volunteered to go to the St. Barnard Parish district in New Oreleans to help the ASPCA. This was, I think, 2-3 weeks after Katrina. The flood waters had dropped enough to start search and rescue missions. We mainly stayed at camp, taking care of the animals/people. Staci worked closely with the Vets in charge of the dog side. There they made sure all dogs were walked three times a day and generally played with throughout. Many animals came into the campsite skin and bones. Their habitat, (homes) were destroyed. It was total destruction everywhere. Nothing was spared. My job, with 3 others, was to make the humans feel human. We did various tasks from setting up work stations with lights (run on a generator), to shelving. We even found running water, which was contaminated but, still running water. We made a shower by using garden hose and a kiddie pool. It even had walls for privacy.

After our tour with the ASPCA, we started driving home. 1100 miles if I remember correctly. It was pouring rain when we decided to stop at a Motel 6 in Virgina. Staci was driving (we switched every 2-3 hours). She pulled into the spot, we opened our doors and, in hops the little black and brown guy in the pictures above. Seeing as we were at a Motel 6 (pet friendly) we decided to at least give him a warm/dry place for the night. We asked the clerk if he was somebodys and she said he showed up about 4-6 weeks earlier. As the night went on though we decided that we would take him home and put him on PetFinder.com. So Staci went to a local store and bought some real cat food (we were giving him whatever we had available), litter box, and litter. He was so skinny so we didn't want to overfeed him but he did eat well that night. We all fell fast asleep. Kismet (we later named him) slept on our heads. We knew we did the right thing.

In the morning we gathered up everything and headed for PA. It was a 7 hour car ride back to Lancaster. Kismet slept under the seat the whole way. I'm sure he was scared but I think he knew he was safe, finally. We took him to the vet. They determined he was about 9-10 years old and in good health. We put him on PetFinder.com like we knew we should but no one answered. That is how we ended up with him.

He lived with us for a little over two years but in that time he was friends with everyone. All the others in the house and anyone who walked through the door. He most certainly was a lover. He was the one that made everyone (other cats) stop hating Skellington. He loved Skellington as much as Mayari, Serendipity, and Malificent. He was the one that tought the girls (other cats) how to clean dishes and Skellington to dig in garbage. He also tought Skellington how to make a nest to sleep in.

After Thanksgiving, Kizzy was wheezing so we took him to the vet. They took chest x-rays and basically told us to make him comfortable. There was nothing they could do for him. He knew we did everythng we could and last night we had to make the hardest decision of our lives. We had to put Kizzy down. The cancer in his lungs made it almost impossible for him to breath. His kidneys were twice the size they should be. Pushing his other organs out of place. He was a trooper. It wasn't until last night that he showed any signs of pain. We didn't want him to suffer. As hard as that decision was, I'd hate myself if he were still here in pain.

We will miss you Kismet. We love you.

States

Phew! A long season finally over. PA states were a mess. Recent snow/rain/ice mixed with a slightly warmer temperature combined to make it an absolute mud fest. Running about 200 yards in 4 inches of the stuff, 3 barriers, 2 run ups, and a sand pit (ridable but clogged your brakes with sand). That equals a lot of running. Not my strong suit. I never did get my legs yesterday. I just kept losing ground to the leaders until I finally hit ice, went down, and called it quits. I only had one lap to go but I was done. Shawn did awesome. He took 9th and was the 5th PA rider to finish. Not bad. He even broke his helmet when his bike slammed his head on one of the run ups. It looks like the slop is where he shines. I knew he would do great because of the way he handles a bike. He's just technically sound. Great balance (usually haha!) too. Hats off to Shawn.

We had a nice crowd to race for too. Three other none cross team members (along with Katie, Roger, and a lady that I forget her name) were there in the muck cheering us on. It was really cool to hear those guys yelling for Shawn and myself eventhough I was going slower and slower every lap. Thanks guys.

I'm not sure exactly how many races I did this season but it was 9 months long. I had a blast but was definitely fatigued from Mid-October on. I didn't manage one decent finish after Iron Cross and that was with a concussion and a saddle that was stuck at about a 30 degree angle. Not comfy at all. I made a lot of new friends being my first year racing on the road. I learned that next season I have to be more prepared to finish the season as strong as I started.

It seems like we are really coming together as a team. Our roster is full. We will have a good road and 'cross team, and an awesome mountain team. I can't wait for next season. Our focus on the road will be to target specific races. Obviously, the ones we feel we can win or will get our sponsors names out the most. 'Cross our goals will be high finishes in MAC. Mountian will see us going for an overall team (under 10 riders) podium in the MASS. We will also be doing some other endurance races not on the MASS calander. Our two man downhill team will do what they can, when they can. They are free to do as they please since their participation is a bonus to the sponsors.

Carlizzle

Shawn and myself braved the brisk winter air that is rolling in to race the Carlisle Fairgrounds. #9 in the MAC series. I'd like to say we won but Marc, Ethan, Jeff, and about 10 others that finished in front of us said no. We both had good starts and I was in the top 10 for a good portion of the race until I took myself out pushing a corner harder than I had to. I was trying to build momentum for the uphill coming up so I was really railing the corners. My luck ran out. I hit a nice sized rut in the course and lost the edge on my front wheel. From there it was blurry masses passing me. My bike was fine so I attempted to catch up to what was chase group #2. I was alone and it just never happened. Every barrier it felt like my feet were cinder blocks from being so cold. As chase group #2 started dropping riders I was picking them off. All said and done I was about a minute behind the winner. Shawn not too much further behind me.

We were pretty frozen so we packed up and left. We didn't stick around to see where we finished but it was another mid-pack day. Next weekend is Wonderland which is actually states. Hopefully we are feeling good for that one. It has been a long season (since mid-March) and for as much as I love racing, it will be nice to have a break and just have fun with it again.