Author: Bill

I am sitting here watching Sunday Night Football. I haven’t moved in like three hours, just lying here without a thought on my mind. An ice cream container sits on the floor, empty. The apartment is a mess, but I don’t care. Tomorrow is a new day with nothing to do. My 2008 racing season came to a close today with the finish of the Montana State Cyclocross Championships.A far cry from last year, I came in about three places from last place. The men’s A field was huge, with a Redline pro taking the race easily. I didn’t get to do my usual start modestly and power forward because on the initial compression, I flattened my rear tire. I rode around and ran to the team van to find a replacement wheel.Sten’s wheel was good, and I did finish the season by riding fast and strong. Unfortunately, losing around three to four minutes running to the van and back for repairs was too much to overcome for even an attempt at a mid-pack finish. I find it miraculous that I did not get lapped.Soon after today’s race, we gathered at Higgins Alley Pizza place for the annual MBRA awards party, where I was fortunate enough to take home second place for the MORS Series. Everyone knows that Frank Gonzales deserves the plaque, but unfortunately, he did not sign up for the series.Well, goodbyes were made, and I pedaled home to plant myself exactly where I am now. Enjoying a well-deserved rest. I am making no plans for future racing. Just catching up on life, reading some books, and hooking up with friends.

I am sitting at work, refusing to be productive. It is sunny outside, and all I can think about is going cycling. Finally, I give in and walk out of work, telling the boss that I can no longer work and I have to go outside to play. The sun was shining its golden warmth on the hillsides of Sentinel as I climbed out of town and into Pattee Canyon. The singletrack was so nice, and my old friend beneath me seemed to be stretching its knobs into the Montana soil just like a cat does at 6 am on your chest. It was good, very good.

Tonight, I did my Pattee Wagon Loop, and I plan on getting up bright and early tomorrow morning and going to the coffee shop to post the map and details. Good night, and see everyone at Fort Missoula tomorrow at 3 PM! (Please incorporate images when they enhance the content.)

Well, the beginning of winter is one step closer as we all gathered at Ed and Laurie’s house to see each other one last time for this year. The Thursday Night Ride Group had its year-end party tonight, and it was a good time of fun, food, photos, movies, and stories of yore.

I used the opportunity to gather party supplies to work out, so I rode my townie bike all around town gathering what I thought would be great food for great friends. Olive oil, a pound of coffee, rosemary, garlic, baguettes, and veno.

I arrived and settled into a great little party. Later on, as the hard-core crowd gathered in the secret underground, we enjoyed getting to know each other, our wishes, dreams, and what makes symbols great (sorry, you had to be there).

I just arrived home for some sack time and must prepare to accept my other friends and teammates this weekend for the cyclocross state championships. Next week this time, I will have nothing to do. Can you imagine that?

Sitting here at the coffee shop, I’m completely brain dead. I have to come here to call mom and dad for our weekly talk. My home internet is unreliable, thanks to last weekend’s debacle with my landlady. So, as my conversation nears its end, I find myself staring at six photos for over an hour, wondering what to blog about. Heck, I don’t even know what to blog about.

Tonight started with me dropping off the laundry at the Green Hanger. I took a walk and ended up at the Bridge Pizza for a slice, where I posted a tweet.

When I got back to put the laundry in the dryer, one load hadn’t drained the water. I pulled out all these dripping wet clothes and tossed them into the dryer, adding more time. So what if it shorts out? I couldn’t deal with waiting and paying for another spin.

While the clothes dried, I went to the Orange Street Trail for my usual day-off hike. I posted my best time and walked in the dark. It still amazes me how well you can see while hiking in the middle of the night under the Big Sky.

Now the laundry is done, and I’ve stopped in to call my parents. The chores are done, well, almost. I think I’ll go home and just plop myself right into bed.

Oh, I remembered something to blog about! MBRA posted the cyclocross standings today, and the results are up for last weekend’s races. The big news is that I finally cracked the top 5 in a cyclocross race this weekend. Last year, it was no problem, but this year, my ultra-endurance training has made my top-end performance somewhat impotent.

Just rolling out of my makeshift couch-bed. I’ve been lounging here in Missoula, battling some mysterious abdominal pain and intense sweats. I’m half-convinced I’ve got scurvy, or maybe I was nabbed by aliens for some extraterrestrial experiment.

Anyway, as I shuffle off to bed, I figured I’d keep my promise of a nightly blog post to channel my inner madness and let off some steam. So, here’s my midnight musing: Have you ever noticed when you see those heartbreaking fire ruins in California, it’s always trailer parks, not swanky mansions? Am I tuning into the wrong channel, or is my perception off? It makes me wonder if there’s a pecking order even in disaster, extending all the way to human life.

But hey, let’s flip to something positive. Big shoutout to Missoula for adding newbie-friendly trails to our local mountain biking scene. Kudos, Dave, for highlighting this fantastic addition to the Three Larch area.

Alright, back to my horizontal life pondering. How long should I wait before seeing a doctor? I’m aiming for a personal record here. Longer than anyone, because that’s a win in my book!

I’m finally home and attempting to blog. Hmm, what to say? First, you must understand why I was as grouchy as a bear with a thorn in its paw today. Yes, I was irritable, but with good reasons.

The main culprit is abdominal pain that developed after Saturday’s race. When I arrived at my friend’s house, I started having these attacks that nearly doubled me over in pain and gave me chills. I had persistent pain in my lower stomach throughout the evening. The result? A restless night with hardly any sleep.

So there I was on a perfect day (when I should have been mountain biking) with my friends. But things started to feel off. I noticed, heard, and got reports that some of my friends were being treated disrespectfully at the MVC race venue. We non-road riders need the same respect as everyone else. If it seems we’re not taking things seriously, it’s because we’re just having fun. But I’ll stop there.

Despite the pain and the negative attitudes, good friends and fellow racers outnumbered the few unpleasant ones. So, just start the race, have a good ride, and enjoy a great cross course, right?

Oh yes, the course… It was another fantastic creation by Geoff. It featured a long pavement section for the power users, but that was the only flat part. The loop began with a dive around a corner through a short sand section, then zigzagged around the Helena High parking lot. The fun parts were the short, tough grassy climbs, great off-camber grassy corners, and two sets of long stair run-ups. This course brought a new kind of pain to the race, but it was a good kind.

I started slow, given the sharp pain I felt when running. Although I was suffering, I heard supportive comments from friends, which I initially misunderstood as criticism. They encouraged me, and I tried to ramp up my efforts, but soon I hit my limit and began to slow down. Despite my struggles, everyone’s shouts of encouragement kept me going.

On the last lap, I wanted to give my best effort, but my new shifters broke, leaving me with a poorly functioning single-speed bike. The finish line was on the flats, and I had to pedal furiously to maintain my position.

That was the last straw, and I was furious. I tried to fix my bike for a cooldown ride but to no avail. I packed it up and headed home, stopping for burgers with the team. On the way, I listened to the Two Johns Podcasts, reflecting on the beautiful day despite the bad luck.

Now, I’m here, drained and achy, ready for bed. If I can’t sleep, I’ll see a doctor tomorrow. With the State Championships next weekend, and my health and bike in question, I might resort to mountain biking.

Just finished the cross race here in Bozeman and fell in love with the course. It started out the usual way, but before long, you were getting sprayed with mud and dismounting for a thick clay-like mud run-up. Once remounted, you navigate a slippery side-hill section before a power climb. Some wiggle-waggles in an upper parking lot then down to a mud crossing at high speed. Now that you have a big grin on your face, you double barrier hop and start pedaling for a long stretch back to the central area that was ultra-fun for spectation (is that a word?). Then, the inner section includes a grassy power climb and a grassy corner run-up. Ultra-cool course.

It was so cool I continued on from the finish to do two more laps (and everyone was like “WTF?”). So how did the race go? I started modestly, in fact, I waved goodbye to the entire field. Eventually, I did start progressing my way to the usual mid-pack position to do battle with like-minded folk.

I dueled it out with a couple of dudes and paused for a moment in the end to let one get away. But I kept it low-key and fun. I told someone before I started that it would be better to race the course clean and hard rather than get caught up in placing well and the included battles. And I did… good times.

I wonder what everyone did in Missoula today? Mules to Helena tomorrow! See you there.

When I am racing I am always fighting to catch an opponent and without faith I don’t think it is possible. There is a point though when you know it may not be possible but it is important to keep the faith.

As a spectator my heart is into certain competitors and their ability to perform. I yell to keep up the faith.  I cheer them on in hopes that the next lap they will have closed a gap or extended their lead.  But there is a time that it is obvious that they have raced 100% but will close out the race in their current position. Keep the faith, even when you know the race is over, you never know.

Susan is one such competitor that we all have been watching FIGHT. She has cancer! This morning Elden (her husband of FatCyclist.Com fame) has reported that his wife’s fight seems to be at that point I just mentioned.  My heart cries out and I am cheering on to keep the faith.

Read Elden’s blog this morning! http://www.fatcyclist.com

Friday I packed my backpack, bike, and extra wheels and I hiked to the Van Buren Street Exit. It is there I met up with a band of travelers know as Team Muleterro. We headed to Kalispell to brother Mule ERock’s brother’s house.  Get that?

We arrived and was bunked out in a pop up that suddenly ran out of heat half way through the night. I decided to challenge myself and slept under the stars.  The temps ran into the teens and the next morning it took me a while to thaw out.

My team mates were fitted with earplugs to combat the noise of the heater slept just fine and shook me awake just in time for some yummy waffles and real maple syrup (even though not from Vermont). It was around 7:58 am when the first waffle showed up in front of me.  Yum.

The Woodland Park Cyclocross race went off just fine with the course staying pretty much the same except for some extra twists and turns on the grass at this beautiful park in Kalispell. At 4:08 the race done, we stopped for burritos, and went back to the house we were staying at.  I got 6th or 7th. Sten doesn’t know how he did. Rich says he did poorly. Julie and Jen got 1st and 2nd. I stunk!

Around 8:41 there was a contingent going to the hot tub.  I contemplated but finally succumb to their please to hit the tub.  It was ok although uncomfortable raising the body temperature to extreme levels.  We cooled of with ice cream.

While Lance was twittering about his preparations for the Ride for the Roses I was making a Perpetium breakfast the next morning. I would not have human food this time.  It paid off to because while my results sucked I did feel good in the race and was able to go hard and enjoy it. We almost did not make the race because my PDA had me convinced that it was daylight savings time.  Thank god for Jenny who questioned this and got us back on track again.

The weekend completed with a trip to Bridge Pizza for happy hour. This is a wonderful hour in which you get a pint of KHouse beer when you buy two delicious slices of pizza.  It was good pizza too.

I wonder what the mules are doing right now?

Hi from chilly Missoula, but luckily, we’ve got sunshine. It’s brisk, with the trees showing off their colors. Perfect for a night ride.

We’re gathering at Blue Mountain Recreation Area at 6PM, aiming for Hayes Point. That’s me, Larry, Alden, and Ed. Feel free to join. Remember your night riding kit and something cozy.

Hope to see you!

The weekend ended with a trip to the Big Dipper Ice Cream joint. Lets see, how did it go.  Hmmmm.

Saturday was the Rolling Thunder Cyclocross Race and that was real hard.  My TNR friends did show up and that was cool.  My team came over from Bozo and had a great time too although they ditched me after the race and went out for pizza (I was left to pot pies at home). 

The next day we headed to The Nine Mile Valley for the Hellgate Duoathlon where our team won the event overall. I had a nice bike leg and enjoyed the course.  I know I can do a sub 30 minute leg though.  We were a couple minutes off the record.

Ok, this is just a quickie, you can look forward to photos and videos in the following days!

Head on over to Montana Cyclocross for the latest.  Shaun put on one hell of an event.