In the beginning....

...there was this little kid, doing cyclocross on his little single speed bmx bike. He was having a lot of fun, and he thought it was cool doing the kiddie races. Soon though, he decided he was ready to race with bigger kids, on the adult's courses. He had trouble getting up some steep stuff, and getting his little bike over some barriers. It probably felt like his bmx was made of lead at times. Other times he would have to stop pedaling as he was spinning out on his one gear, while the rest of the older kids pulled away from him. It didn't matter much, he still gave it everything he had every race he did. Win? Loose? Nah... it's all about the fun....

And this past weekend, it just got a whole LOT more fun (and faster) for that little kid in the cool leg warmers!!

Hey 9 to 11yr olds... guess who got just a little faster this week?
Yep, this 7yr old.... 

I got gears! As in MORE THAN ONE! 

430! You and your funny bike with discs are about to eat my mud... 

Proof he had a little more fun than usual? I give you Exhibit A:

HUUB

I am stoked to count on HUUB's support for 2014 and onward. HUUB supplies gear for the water, equipping fast swimmers and top triathletes in the world with wetsuits and skinsuits, including guys like the Brownlee Bros and, of more recent notoriety, Freddy VL.

Rocking for HUUB at my pool...

HUUB's departure from traditional materials and wetsuit features used by others, and only applying science-backed features which actually benefit swimmers has me very excited... I can use every bit of help in the water....

Features that make a difference....

Finally, it's cool to see more companies departing from thinking of women as small men. I bet there's a number of fast ladies pumped to see a wetsuit design like the Aura. Nice work HUUB!

Here's to faster swim splits! :-)

'nother Sunday of off-road madness...

Donovan and I got our racing ON once again this past Sunday. Very fast course, one which I've won in the past and I was looking to reclaim again. After a slow start, @ about 15th wheel, the field was strung out for lap 1. Starting lap 2, however, the 7 leaders jumped hard, and the field did not react. As soon as I caught on to what was happening, I pushed it and got into no-man's land between the dumb, complacent field and the front.

Racing solo for 4 laps to the front...

I fully committed to my move and rode a hard tempo. Simple: I would either blow up or get on up to the race winning move.  It took me 4 laps to close the 20sec gap by myself, and when I got back on to 6th at the start of the last lap, I made the mistake to get off the gas for a few corners to catch my breath- shoulda just kept on pouring it on & into tunnel-vision land.

Getting back on in 6th place...

The other 5 guys had saved 1-2matches for the sprint and they rocketed away from me... another 6th place. To my credit, the rest of the field came in 25sec behind me...

Donovan had a great time, and he finished his race on his little boat anchor. He took off and had a great start... up until he spun out on his little single speed bmx

I rode behind him to remind him of a couple of tricky areas, but as always, he did it all the racing by himself. Including getting over barriers and stairs.

 The finish line and the awesome feeling of having given it a great effort.

Theresa and I decided he has been such a trooper, never complaining about how heavy his bike is, or how he spins out on flats, or how hard it is to get up hills, that he deserves a real bike. We want his experience to be enjoyable, not frustrating like it has been at times the last 2 races. So I am on the search for a Redline Conquest 20 for him. That should allow him a more level playing field to the 9-11yr olds he's racing... Until next Sunday... and thank you for reading

some more racin'...

The racing this weekend was pretty good. First, got a chance to watch the live-video feed of the IM World Champs that took place in Kona, while dissecting all things swim-bike-run over a couple beers with my buddy Ryan. So that was cool, I kinda felt like a lot of those people who go over to their friends' homes to watch 'the game' every Saturday or Sunday...

Then Sunday brought on some really hard cyclocross racing, courtesy of muddy/grassy conditions

Photo above & below courtesy of Woodinville Bicycle

I gotta say, I'm just happy my bike didn't break, as the mud & grass combo destroyed many drivetrains on the day. It was a really hard day, pedaling on that terrain was absolutely energy zapping and leg destroying....

3 laps to go!? R u kidding me!? I don't have 3 laps left in me...

And you hear me talk about the camaraderie this particular sport has, so here is a good example. After a really tough battle with each other, zero hard feelings, and we swap war stories, and enjoy a cold brew....

L to R: Randy (9th), Ryan (6th), Nick (1st... we'll get you next time!), and me (5th)

'til next time... stay tuned for more racing from Donovan as well...

The awesomeness of being a parent

Donovan came out yesterday for his first cx race of the season. The venue is a MTB'ers course, and it has some really steep climbs. In addition, it features one of the harder and longer sand sections around here.

The one thing to keep in mind is Donovan is 40lbs. His bike is a single speed bmx, and is also like 40lbs.

Final instructions & encouragement from racer #330

Donovan took a look at the kiddie "race," and decided he didn't want to race with the little kids anymore- he wanted to race with the junior boys & girls. So he lined up with the 9-15yr olds... Theresa was concerned, as this was the real course the adults race on, not a diluted 2min easy flat loop. And they were doing 2 laps. I reminded Donovan of his own little mantra "u can always jump off your bike and run up anything". Injured as I was after my own race, I sucked it up and made sure I was always close to him, cheering him on, letting him know he was doing great, I knew the terrain was going to really test his determination.

The course pummeled Donovan. HARD.  I watched my son fall time and time and time again, and push his bike more than he was able to ride it. On the last really steep hill, I gave him a push, and when he crested, he said 'OK, that's enough, Papa...' letting me know he was doing it on his own. When he made it back down to the beach for the 2nd and last time, I could see in his little face he was totally exhausted as he stumbled and fell down on the sand for the umpteenth time. At this point, his race had ended a while ago, the course was closed as they were getting ready for the next race. I told him he had put on a great effort and that it was ok to be done at that point. He gave me a resounding NO!, got up, grabbed his bike and kept on moving, leaving me there with a knot in my throat and a sense of pride I can't describe.

There was group of the fast guys warming up, who on purpose were riding behind him, cheering him on, helping him at times. Afterwards, they came over and told him how awesome he is.

So a cop pulls me over...

It's near 2pm, I'm in downtown Seattle, on my way to a meeting, using the bus lane. Said bus lane is restricted to buses from 6-9AM and 3-7PM. So a cop flashes his lights, I pull off into the parking lane, he stops his cruiser on the bus lane. I turn my van off, lower my window... oh, the cop is approaching on the passenger's side, so I reach over & lower that window... The guy has a ton of decorations on his uniform, he is asian, pretty much all gray, & looks friendly...
Cop- I'm pulling you over b/c you've been using the bus lane for the last 3 blocks. Do you want to tell me why you are doing that? (cop rests his forearms across the open window, interlocks his fingers)
JC-B/c the lane is unrestricted from 9-3, according to the signs (I point to a sign ~200ft away)... right?
(Cop looks at sign for a couple seconds... then looks down at the ground in front of him)
Welllllll... looks like I better do my homework before I pull people over, huh....?
(I kind of just smiled, I didn't want to say anything that would come across as being a smart ass. Cop raps his hands on the inside of the door, looks around in the van...)
Hey, tell me about these vans...
What would you like to know?
At this point we proceed to have a friendly chat about engines, and cost of maintenance, and mechanics in Seattle, and Syncros, and the Z-bed in the back, and cargo capacity, and so on, and so forth for about 10minutes. I am now late for my meeting, and the cop has been blocking traffic and the cruiser still has the lights on. I end up having to tell him I need to get to a meeting, and he apologizes for keeping me, shakes my hand, and that's that...

Funny...

First really muddy race of the CX season!

This past Saturday it rained hard, like, all day long. It was a crazy storm, which forecast a really muddy racing Sunday. Which it was. But before we get to that point in the story...

with 40minutes to go, I'm out on the race course, warming up, when I roll my rear tubular. $#@&! Now what? Lucky for me, FSA graciously provides race-support services at no cost. So I mosey on over to their van, and one of the FSA mechanics offers to let me borrow a wheel, and then works his magic to set my brakes, and rear derailleur to match this new wheel. 20minutes to go. Thanks FSA, for pimpin' my ri.... er... wait a sec... So the neutral support wheel has pretty much no knobs, and I am 100.0% certain I will wipe out on the first mud section I hit with it. I  am fortunate to find my good friend Jesse, who is borrowing a pair of my wheels, and without hesitation offers to give it back, as he borrows one of his team's wheels. 10minutes to go.  Thanks Jesse, for pimpin' my... oh crap... I have to readjust brakes and derailleur for this wheel. I get to work behind my van with Teddy's help. 5minutes to go. Teddy has to go line up for his race, which starts 1min after mine. I am fiddling with hex keys madly until I kinda get everything right, and scramble to the start. "1minute to go!," says the starter, as I get there. I jump over the fence, wiggle my way at the front line, say hello to my buddies lined up next to me, who were wondering WTH I was... I have just enough time to tighten my shoes, and realize I left my glasses in the car.

Photo courtesy of Woodinville Bicycle

Got up to 3rd, and then fell down numerous times to finish 14th... oh well, it was a muddy good time, followed by some beer drinking and camaraderie...