Tom Bamford Classic

With the Tom Bamford Classics exclusion from the Commerce Bank Triple Crown it is now open to us mortals. You know, the ones with 40+ hour jobs. This is a fantasic race. A super short 6 block lap criterium with four 90 degree turns. Simple right? While Lancaster is by no means a mountainous region, it's not dead flat either. This crit is no exception to this general rule. The first few laps shouldn't do much to those of us racing but by the end you will certainly see struggling faces climbing towards turn 4. They will be greeted with the begining phases of a construction project on the Lancaster Square that ARRO is designing/engineering. I was already excited for this race because it is the first year I will be able to race it and it goes past the downtown Issac's (it's actually just before the start/finish line) about 5000 times. Now we will see ARRO signs pulling us up that little incline for even more motivation.
At our team meeting everyone was on board to race this race (before we even knew about the ARRO deal) so this should peek their interest even more. I'm sending them an e-mail now. Out.

Is it spring yet?

It's been a long winter and I can prove it. Today, while cutting my pizza with the pizza cutter, I wondered how well it would work if it had ceramic bearings. I'll contact Enduro about that on Monday.

The pizza was good. I'll be heading to Philthy tonight to see the Flyers (hopefully stop losing) against the Panthers. Let's cross our fingers.

***UPDATE***
Trouble reared it's ugly head to me again...While at the game a ceiling tile fell from the sky, striking me on the head. I'm fine and the Flyers assured me I would "taken care of". I hope they don't mean in the mafia sense. Although at this point maybe someone should just put me down.

Redeeming Myself

After our team meeting at one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at (Issac's Deli), I came home with a brand new pair of Ritchey Carbon 58mm wheels. You would think that I would be over taken by joy, but some thing was missing. I did not realize what was missing until just yesterday. It was a thing that Dan showed me at Issac's, A Van Dessel Rivet! Due to me not having one but wanting one more then ever, but not having the money, I decided to try to make myself feel better and try to redeem myself in the eyes of the beholder of the Van Dessel. What a better way but to show him my collection of bikes. Maybe 4 bikes can make up one of the Rivets? I'll let you be the judge of that. Here is a little about every bike. Red bike is my commuter/fun bike, blue is my training/race bike, blue and white is my TT rig, and save the best for last, the Green and Black is my 15lb committed climbing/kick a$$ and take names later bike. It's a snow day so I am going to go train on the rollers. Out

Chad

It's been three weeks and I barely have even received a phone call back from the bus company. I had no choice but to contact a lawyer. Seeing as the driver got a ticket, I have witnesses, and damage to my bike (for a little extra proof) Mr. Lawyer seems to think it would be worth persuing. I'm not a person who ever felt like I should sue someone. Maybe now is my time. I just find it amazing that one of their drivers wasn't paying attention and I'm the one ignored when I want my stuff paid for (parts, clothes, medical bills). Maybe I'm the one that is messed up but shouldn't they be kissing my saddle sores (I don't actually have any just so you know)? Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought but if I were them I'd see my offer as very reasonable seeing as all I ever wanted was compensated for my stuff. We'll see how this pans out...

It's Official...

Being that we are a small team we have to allocate our resources with efficiency. We decided to have a meeting at Isaac's Deli in downtown Lancaster. This turned out to be an expensive meeting for Joel since he got a ticket on his way from the Philly area. Joel, racing bikes is ok. Racing cops, not ok. Got it? Our goals in 'cross are always the same...to win. Road and mountain get more complicated due to the fact that the seasons are longer. All in all I say we covered a lot of important items and came to resolutions on some of the logistics for certain races. It looks as though a website will exist in the near future too.
There were lots of pictures taken. Mostly of the candid variety but the team photo was finally taken. We couldn't have picked a more wonderful day either. Mid 20's with a 20-30mph wind. We braved it (most of us in the short sleeve jerseys). These photos should be available in a few days.
If you are a veggie (like a few of us on the team), Isaac's has your back. I think there are about 10 or so different sandwiches to choose from. Plus there is always a veggie soup. So our meeting was amist pita wraps, pretzel sandwiches, and the Creamy Pepperjack Tomato soup. YUM! Not only was the food in the picture but also the President of Isaac's himself. It's was nice to see him get excited when we presented him with a team jersey and cap. I think our waiter was jealous.

Super Tuesday...

All that seems to be decided is that no one has really decided. My guy dropped out a few weeks ago but still managed a few votes, though not as many as Edwards. I never really liked politics because everyone of them lies. You have to. It's all the blame game, like, our schools are failing. It must be the teachers union. All they care about are their pensions...BULL ONY! It can't be because our schools are underfunded in the BILLIONS! "No Child Left Behind" is a complete failure due to the way it is implemented. I guess that is a teacher problem though. It has nothing to do with the fact that the top percentage of students stay stagnent, those that are close to the minimum requirements are focused on, while those at the bottom are forgotten.
Since when does the United States attack other countries preemptively? That's a few billion coins we could've spent on education. A few years ago I thought one person can not ruin this country. Congress would make sure of that. After all our founding fathers set it up that bureaucracy would slow things down so much that one couldn't do that much harm. They did it that way on purpose. But hey, who am I? I just work for a living and ride my bike as stress relief. Before I completely impode, I decided to figure out my schedule for the season. Being that I orginized this rag tag group of riders I have many obligations...

3-15 Strasburg Road
3-29 Kirkwood Road
4-6 MASS XC Team Relay MTB
4-12 Mt. Joy Road
4-13 Fair Hill MTB XC
4-19 Bakers Dozen MTB Enduro
4-20 Hibernia STXC
4-26 Deep Blue STXC MTB
4-27 Greenbrier XC (Nationals Qualifier) MTB
5-3 Granogue XC MTB
5-10 French Creek XC MTB
5-17 Union Grove Road
5-31 D&Q XC MTB
6-1 Tom Bamford Crit Road
6-8 Tour De Tykes XC MTB
6-21 Peiffer Hill Road
6-22 Neshaminy XC MTB
6-28 Brownstown Road
7-4-6 Marysville Weekend MTB
7-12 Mt. Penn Road
7-13 Fair Hill XC MTB
7-27 Nottingham STXC MTB
8-16 Iron Hill XC MTB
8-30-31 24hr Seven Springs MTB Enduro

Throw in a few CX races from Oct-Dec and you have a very full season. In some stretches I have 4 races in 9 days. It should be a blast though since all the riders on the team are close friends. I know I can rely on them to pull their share.

Excuse me...

Last Thursday I was out for a nice 60 mile ride. Well, almost 60 miles. My ride was cut short due to a conflict with a bus. See, I being a part of traffic didn't think that the bus was going to pull out from the stop while traffic (that would be me) was passing by. I guess I was wrong. Now the darnedest thing though, I could see the entire length of the bus (being that I was about halfway out in the lane). It still pulled out and I just had no where else to go but into it or the traffic in the left lane. I didn't want to take the chance of being actually ran over by other traffic so I ate the back of that bus...

Cruising down King St in Lancaster is a lot safer than riding Manor St so I always take the long way home instead of Manor via King. I'm moving along, riding about 25mph (the posted speed limit), traffic is passing on the left. No big deal. I see a bus. I move out into the lane so said bus sees me. Now like I stated before, I could see the entire length of the bus, there is no reason that if the driver looked in the mirror (which I could clearly see) that they couldn't see me. Bus pulls out. I grab the brakes in an effort not to eat bus. My rear tire locks up, goes sideways, blows and BANG! Me eating bus. Bus leaves. No harm, no foul, I guess. Luck would be on my side though.

A lady cruising down the street caught up with the bus and got the plate number. A witness gives me their contact info. A cop two blocks away takes the info. Gives me a ride home. This is were we stand now...

I went to the ER for what turned out to be a badly bruised knee. The bike, well, about $1400 worth of damage.

My bruises are almost healed and the bike is rebuilt with old parts...

Will they pay up? Will I go to court? Will there be criminal charges filed? We shall find out.

To be continued...