and who do we have to thank for all this?

after a busy season, some respect and high fives.

family/ roommates/ significant others



you are a bike racer. to civilians, your schedule, priorities and indeed general world view is difficult to fathom at best. first and foremost, you have spent more on bicycles and strange flavored powders than most people will spend on a car. this does not seem like a sound investment to the uninitiated. you opt out of important friday night hangout time because you have to get up at the ass crack of dawn to make it to an office park in some god-forsaken corner of america to breathe heavily through your mouth for an hour and a half. we speak a foreign language - i have recently discovered words like "breakaway", "VO2", "crit", and "cyclocross" mean almost nothing to the public at large (or, apparently to the spellcheck function, which has "cyclocross" underlined. it seems to think i meant to say "cyclotrons").

then, of course, there is the laundry basket (or im my case, the living room). these things have distinct flavors, bouquets that only bike racers can seem to stand without watering eyes and red-faced, oxygen-starved gasps of protest. like me, im sure you all have a pair of shoes deserving of a viking funeral. these shoes lurk just past the threshold, filling up a porch, basement or closet with an odor only they (or a dead homeless person) could produce. anyone sharing your living space should be thanked (perhaps with cookies, as baking them will help mask the smell) for their tireless patience and olfactory fortitude.

as for your significant other, you have likely used up many of your vacation days (not to mention vacation budget) on things entirely different from "romantic getaways". no, spending 2 days in vermont getting soaked and sleeping in a parking lot is not your boy/girlfriends idea of a good time. if you are lucky enough to have someone willing to deal with your desire to hurt yourself in remote locations with minimal amenities and one porta-john per 200 nervous bike racers, you may want to work in something nice that THEY might enjoy. and if they stand in the rain, cowbell/ waterbottle/ feedbag in hand, you have something special. dont mess it up.


promoters/ volunteers



these are the folks that make it happen. whatever discipline you race, you can do it here in new england. i raced cross every weekend this season. often, there were multiple events to choose from. on the road, we have 2 major stage races and a few smaller ones within a few hours drive. there are 2 well run and well attended training series within RIDING distance of boston. there are 2 mountain bike race series to contest, each with its own distinct feel and purpose. the 24 hours of great glen is one of the best, most well run 24 hour event in the country. and lets not forget the new england velodrome. starting with a haggard go-kart track, that place has become a great development venue for both track racers and bmx alike. in the same vein, look at highland mountain - from nothing to world-class in a few short seasons. there are too many people involved with these events to call them out. just know that we live in one of the best places in the country for grassroots racing, and if you get the chance, thank some of the folks that help make that happen.


photographers



what do the old guy with the telephoto lens, your girlfriends point and shoot and some dudes helmet cam have in common? they all let you look back and see how awesome you are. its ok. dont deny it. like me, you scour flickr, crossresults.com, picasa... anywhere you think lurks that one shot of you hanging it out on a corner, making that sick inside pass or giving your victory salute. a few of them do it for a living, but most are there because their friend/ teammate/ life partner is out there with you (that explains the tantalizing, out of focus shots of your back wheel, hand and helmet or right buttock at the extreme right or left of the picture). give these folks some love. let them know they took an awesome picture of you (or your blurry left ass cheek). try to give them the credit they deserve when you inevitably post the photo on your friendster account (or whatever you crazy kids are using these days).

enjoy the snow, everyone.

B2C2, plus the Past, the Present, and the Future

Hiho people who read this blog. I know you're there, I have super-secret tracking tools. So it looks like bike racing is over for a while. This is where we will begin the trend of slowly and perilously stretching any cycling related content over the next 3-4 months to prevent complete blogatrophy.

Team Stuff

You may have noticed the title for this website has changed slightly. What the hell is B2C2? Okay, aside from being something the military is interested in, it also stands for the Back Bay Cycling Club. And BBCC just won't do.

This is merely a organizational move for the team. This last year marks the first "official" year for the team, and I'd be lying if I said we'd planned everything from the get-go. I am extremely pleased with the teams growth, and the progress that we have made.

Stay tuned for more updates on B2C2 2010 happenings -- we've got a lot of exciting things in the works.

Hey, weren't you racing a bunch too? What happened?

Ehhh, so after Easthampton I had a bit of a knee injury. I'm not exactly sure what caused it, but I'm thinking over-use plus weird dismounts did me in. Riding my townie bike ten miles the next day probably didn't help, either. Instead of messing it up even more, I've been taking it easy -- it is December, after all.

With that said, even though I missed Sterling, NBX, and Ice Weasels, I'm still pretty psyched about my season and the progress I've been able to make in a year. Especially considering where I was at in 2006...



I've already starting filming my winter training montage, complete with smoke machines, pensive stares, and shitty music.

A slight aside, or a couple of "bummer dudes."

Registration opens for Battenkill a little too soon, and I am bummed out over the price hike. While last year I did make my entry fee back, I'm not exactly rolling in dough after this cross season. However, I also want to get myself out of the Cat 4 field pronto.

Also, Tedro totally dumped the ProXCT. So what does that leave, 3 UCI C1 or C2 events in the country? I wonder if USA Cycling will reconsider the Pro upgrade process.

Hey, Mike's posts are funny, we want more of him

If we could combine Mike's voice with my use of capitalized letters, we might have a real blogger on our hands. Also, teammate Nick (posting as "themajor") is now an author, expect more good stuff from him in the future.

the weasel.

its "the weasel" right?

so the day before the race i stepped on a quarter inch connector at band practice while changing out of my bike shoes. this produced a large bruise with a bloody center. i was seriously doubting my decision to race the weasel. but i did. mostly because of pauly shore, who to my lasting regret couldnt make it to his namesake cyclocross event.

it was because of the cold. pauly shore lives in california, where the sky opens up and unicorns that fart sunshine create a spandex utopia where big, fancy bike races happen all the time - even the streets are paved with UCI points (unless your town is on fire). in wrentham, it was really cold. knee-knockingly, teeth-chatteringly, ass-clenchingly, zero-percent-chance-of-pauly-shore cold. avi (a new recruit) and i showed up about an hour before the 4 race. i asked rosey if they needed a hand anywhere - if i did chicken (weasel?) out of racing, i could at least offer my services as a volunteer. his suggestion was to find colin. i could not (and neither could anyone else... he must have been busy tracking down pauly shore to announce the race). so i grabbed my bike and rode around a bit.

the course was good - plenty twisty, with a bunch of hoppable barricades and an unrunable runup. the lone power section was already rutted by the time i got to it - i was excited. this was going to be fun. with pauly or without, i was going to do this race.

i played superfan to the 4s, chasing riders all over the course, shouting words of "encouragement" and "motivation". i would like to take a moment to describe what it is like to have someone yell "GO FASTER" at you while you are physically and mentally disintegrating, wishing you had paid more attention to "training" and things like "intervals". actually, if you are reading this blog, you know what its like. and you wouldnt have it any other way.

my race started at 2, or when colin lined up behind me (i took a back row start here very much on purpose) and said "sure, were ready". i felt ok. good, even. i moved up through the field of struggling starters with relative ease, jumped over the first barricade, passed a few guys on the inside and WHAM. i crashed SO HARD on my left side. ok. get up. laugh it off. keep going. move up. things were going ok again, though i think at this point rooter was on my wheel. the run up was fine, the tight turn went a bit sketchy... then i forgot how to ride. yes, somehow the government got inside my brain and deleted all of the files marked "bike handling". i was all over the place, and i had no idea why. literally every turn i would almost (or actually) lose it, all to the infinite amusement of the millions that turn to colins webcam for mean-spirited entertainment.

finally, i just waved him by. it was no use. i rode another lap the same way, locking up at every turn, crashing more in one race than in all of my previous cross races combined. finally, after almost losing the good-looking side of my face to the second barricade and dropping my chain, i stopped to inspect the damage. it seems a rock had somehow managed to infiltrate the brake hood, lodging itself behind the lever. this kept it about 3/4 engaged. the other result of this bit of detritus was that every hard turn i tried to take, my front wheel would lock up.

bear in mind people were passing me this whole time.

after extracting the offending rock, i took up the chase. i was able to navigate the corners somewhat better now, and had made peace with just riding out the rest of the race. it cant be that much longer, can it?

yes, it can.

7 to go? really? i wasnt really tired, but my body was starting to protest by swelling considerably around the parts i had crashed on. my right knee and ankle were in a bad way, and anyone that watched me hobble up the run cheered me on the way you cheer on a handicapped person.

every day is a gift. (photo: doublehop)

add to that ANOTHER cupcake-induced crash (this one a perfect combination of little kid, numb fingers and piss-poor coordination) and the very real prospect of getting lapped by al donahue and my clock was punched.

my last few laps were actually much better (not necessarily faster, but WAY less crashy) than my first few. i was just riding - not passing, not chasing, just riding the course. i felt good, almost. i got a cupcake from joshua, grabbed a dollar on the barricade - generally had a blast. a little bummed about pauly, but overall in good spirits.

in the end, i wasnt lapped. i think i got 12th overall (though the results have my time at what looks to be 10th), not too bad for a last row start and worst of all possible worlds couple of laps.

finally, a gentlemans thanks to colin reuter. that dude races every weekend, runs a website we all shamelessly refresh to figure out who is going to hurt on us at the next Verge race, supports the shit out of the new england race scene and somehow manages a legitimate job. the weasels was one of the most fun (and well run) races of the season. that will console me as i hobble my broken ass around my apartment for the next few days.

on the podium, and off.

i cant find any pictures for this race, so instead im going to summerize using the plot arc of a teen romance novel.



me and cary were together most of the time.



even though i would break up with him in the muddy root sections, he would win my heart back on the beach.



evan huff, like an old high school boyfriend, kept turning up when things werent going so well.



he made sure i knew that he would be there to take carys place if i couldnt handle the way things were going.



it was hard, knowing he was back there the whole time.



especially since cary didnt make it easy for me: always sprinting ahead, leaving me to pull myself together and do my best to keep up.



in the end, he left me.



i should have known it would turn out that way. its ok though: i learned alot about myself, and next time i hopefully wont make the same mistakes again.










3rd on the day, 4th overall. 6 points off, at the end of the series. good work, guys. it was great racing with you all.

The end of my first season doing cross, or How to do a race with your skinsuit unzipped the whole time.

After spending last fall riding outside thinking about doing cross, and last winter trying to watch it on Sporza.be, I finally got a bike and gave it a go. Mixed results. Spent the early part of the year trying to figure out several things; how to get on/off the bike, turning, how not to get lapped, and turning. Straight lines good, turny parts bad.

Mixed results ensued.

Fast forward a bit to Easthampton. After doing a pre-ride lap I head back to the bathroom for one last pee. Skinsuit zipper will not zip up. Clock ticking. I try and try and the damn thing just won't go up. I haul ass back to the car, and quickly change into the back-up kit, get to the start and do the race. Phew.

More fast forwarding. I'm at home the week before Sterling, and my friend is making fun of my "onesie." I tell the story about breaking the zipper right before the start. She looks at the thing for a second, and zips it right to the top. "What are you frickin retahded?" Skinsuit now almost fully operational, as long as I don't zip it down into the black.

Even more fast forwarding. First call to staging at NBX, and I have to pee again. Nowhere really to go, so I move over to the bushes, and unzip. Unfortunately for me, i unzip right past the place when I need to stop for the zipper to zip up again. Oh no. Get the call to the start, second row even. Roll over in my sweet unzipped skinsuit. I make a couple of jokes about it, try some more to zip it up, and finally just decide to go with it. I'm really glad I decided to wear arm warmers under my skisuit to go with my short sleeve base layer.

Second row start with a straight part means I was able to stay top 10-15 ish heading into the sand. Run past some people on the way up, and by some at the top remount, and am now top 8ish. I don't know any of the people near me at this point, but I see a Planetbike jersey up ahead, so I figure it's Mike Brier. I catch him soon after that, and then we catch 2 COX riders. Right as we make the catch, the second one eats it on some roots, and i manage to get around clean, not so much for Mr. Brier.

Just me and the COXman for a little bit. I just sit on him through a couple of corners, and pass through the straight mud bog part. I open and keep a small gap through the sand and then seemingly out of nowhere George Lowe comes flying around me and disappears up ahead. I felt like I was doing a track stand as he rode by. More riding by myself. At this point I settle into 9th place for all of about half a lap. A HUP rider and a Team Psycho rider pass me before the start finish (now on last lap), and we're now a group of three with me at the tail (again.) I tail-gun most of the lap and run by them in the second sand part. Remount, and explode. Vomit in my mouth style (nice!) They quickly gap me and I'm left to try to hold off the COXman whom I got away from earlier. Eleventh on the day, and a pretty good end of season race.

This post really needs pictures.

Verge the 13th, Colin Murphy Takes Manhattan (or at least warwick, RI)

indoor podiums = genius (photo:lodri)


i woke up hoping for snow. snow is more manageable than rain, somehow. with snow you expect to be cold, you bundle up: put your mittens on, maybe wrap a scarf around your face. it wasnt snowing on saturday morning. it was raining. hard. i got to the inexplicably vast goddard park early, got on my rain suit and watched the womens race. it looked rough - there was all manner of sliding, skipping and sloshing on the corners. and i was already soaked.

thanks, 4 year old pearl izumi pants.

i got out for a preride with high (if somewhat sodden) hopes. it was rainy, cold and awful - my kind of day. however my heart, like my increasingly waterlogged pants, began to sag a bit when i discovered most of the course to be wide open. yes, it was muddy. yes, there were very slippery parts. but the whole thing was wide open. the turns had plenty of room to monkey even the most poorly chosen line, and there was a running section that felt like that twilight zone episode where the guy cant ever escape, no matter how far he tries to go.

regardless, i removed my soggy drawers and got my kit on in the car with the heat on. i wasnt aware of the changing area and i certainly wasnt going to chance any parcel of clothing i hoped to soon reunite with my skin fall in the inch or so of black water in the bathroom stalls. i lined up with the usual suspects and sat in the rain for about 15 minutes while they got us lined up.

i had a decent start, settling in 4th or so wheel into the rideup. i was worried about that start: two 180 degree turns on asphalt in the driving rain with 100 of your closest pals is pretty disconcerting. we pulled it off, though. like last week at sterling everyone handled the tricky corners very well. near the top of the holeshot i cut my wheel hard across (i think) carys rear end (which is otherwise delightful), bringing me almost to a complete stop and allowing all the guys i DONT want in front to pass me. at this point in the season, everyone is riding strong, and a stupid mistake is all you need to botch your race.

movin' on up. photo: lodri

in the end, it didnt seem to matter much, though. i pushed hard through the pack, gaining spots on the one climb and even the run of death on the beach. morrison had an early lead, with huff, huston and murphy in close order behind. i bridged up to series leader collin huston and we very poorly tried to work together for a lap or so. i say poorly, but that does not in any way imply that we were poor sports about trying. we just seem to stink at it. every time i have tried to "work with" someone this season, the result has been abject failure. apparently, instructions for doing this properly are issued with your elite license.

slowly, huston started losing steam (remember, that jersey weighs like 15 pounds!) and i moved on up to morrison, who had a bad spill in a greasy corner behind the pit area. i got a gap on him that he was able to shut down almost immediately - by the hard off camber right into the field, he was on me - and that was how it was going to be for the rest of the race. well, until near the end when i stopped myself with my face in the root section a turn or two before the finish.

murphys run is mighty. (photo: lodri)

mine, less so. (photo: lodri)

we barely even saw colin h. "the running man" murphy: he shamed us, putting a good 30 seconds between himself and second place. my goofy bobble cost me, and (more importantly) saved me from having to lose a two up sprint against yet another guy that is better at sprinting than i am. another 3rd place, and no complaints here. the course was fun: in the end, the weather really made it tricky and im sure that helped me (face-brake aside). also, i was now in 4th place overall in the verge series - a very unexpected situation. my mission for tomorrow: beat huff, get on the podium overall. yeah. sure. no problem. its not like he hasnt been consistently better than me all season or anything.