Time to walk the walk

So clearly it is time for me to stop fucking around. I have been training at Gym Jones all winter and strength wise I feel great. I trust those guys completely and know it is paying off big for me. My time on the bike has been minimal though. That ends today. Point here is The Rev is coming back in a big way. Do I think I can win The Crusher? Yes I really do but I have a shit-load of work to do. I need to drop 12-15lbs without losing power. No problem the Gym Jones crew has my back on that. What I need to do is the miles. Lots of miles. I am going in with the intention of winning, if I don’t then sure i will have egg on my face but honestly I don’t care what anyone thinks. I have a score to settle with that race and as long as I do the work and ride to my potential I will consider my turnaround complete. For me The Crusher is a marker. The point where I went off the rails. Curb stomping that race on my 3rd attempt will close the door on a lot of demons for me.

So where does that leave this site? I am going to make a commitment to post regular updates here on my progress. Not really a training log per say but more of a narrative of what I am doing and thinking along the way. I want to do more equipment reviews, more video. Here is where I need some help. I would love to have people contribute content to the site. Pictures, videos, motivating stories etc. I want to build Big Ring into more of a community. The Wolfe and I are going to be doing a facelift on the site so bear with us in the near term. Keep an eye on the storefront as well as we will be adding items and updating inventory.

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Competitive Cyclist supports the Big Ring dream

Competitive Cyclist supports all things Big Ring

4ème Manche de CDM cyclo-cross from Petitesreines on Vimeo.

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-Schlecks need to learn to win
-Cadel has the heart of a lion
-Gilbert is a honey badger
-Contador actually showed some class at A Tour
-Tour of Utah was awesome!
-Real Cyclist team should have been in the Colorado race(whatever the heck they ended up naming it)
-UCI and USAC need to be destroyed and rebuilt with people who care about the sport
-Saw my first Cross Vegas, it rocked
-Levi may be bland and boring but he gets results and really could give a shit what we think
-If I have to say Leo-pard Trek then I am also going to say Rad-e-o Shack
-Horner has shit luck, hope he stays healthy for next year.
-Basso can’t hang without the dope
-Was there a Vuelta this year?

Bring on cyclocross!

You all know I like to shovel the shit at The Shack and Sky but I hope you all see that it is tongue in cheek. They both kind of set themselves up for it and I could not really call myself a smart ass if I didn’t jump all over that shit. Right? I take no joy in seeing Horner and Wiggo have to leave the race. They are good dudes I am sure and I don’t wish crashing on anyone (except Ricco, that guy is poison). So no joke, I hope those guys heal up fast and can salvage some late season races.

Rather than limit entries to Cat1-2 riders for a National Championships USAC has a give us your money and you are in policy of qualifying. This means 200+ riders in the Masters fields. Where you start has a lot to do with where you finish in these races so you would think a lot of thought would go into figuring this out. In the past there has really been no effort at all to even address this until last year. In a shocking display of proactive problem solving USAC devised a time trial to determine start order. It had a few detractors but in all honesty did an excellent job of sorting out the grid. Now your starting order was something you could actually have a say in. Problem solved right? Um ya…

So now USAC says they will be using a ranking system using “an innovative algorithm” to rank riders. WTF? I am pretty sure no one in Colorado Springs know what an algorithm is much less how to use one. Here is the biggest problem with this whole mess:

To ensure as fair and accurate a process as possible, USA Cycling is requesting all cyclo-cross race directors to submit results to USA Cycling in an accurate and timely fashion.

If you live in a state like UT,OR, CO where cyclocross is for the most part not held back by USAC how are your races being counted, if at all? Here in UT we have an amazing and growing cyclocross scene partially because we do not have USAC and their officials screwing up our events. Some of the the things we have here are. Fast accurate results, happy racers not getting yelled, quick and easy registration. Which based on what I have seen at the road races I have done the last few years are unheard of at USAC events.

USAC is a giant parasite on cyclocross. They funnel millions into a moribund track program all in the name of the Olympics all while shitting on cyclocross. Hell, the Olympics don’t even care about track cycling. Cyclocross should get as far away from USAC as soon as possible.

If you have any doubt how much USAC direspects cyclocross racers think about this. When asked why in god’s name they are moving Cyclocross Nats to January (in friggin’ Wisconsin), USAC dip shits said it was so our riders (who they don’t support) would be better prepared for Worlds. Bullshit, if anyone other than Jonathan Page and Katie Compton had any interest in not getting lapped at worlds they would be in Belgium slogging through cow shit all season with the best riders in the world, not doing dirt crits here beating up on Steve Tilford (no offense to Steve, who is awesome).

Don’t forget that we (Big Ring) are sponsoring the award for The Most Crusher bike award. All you mechanical types get to work on the frankenbikes, the trophy is gonna be sweet!

Team Radioshack manager Johan Bruyneel has confirmed he no longer gives a shit. A man described (by himself) as the greatest DS ever today announced he is sending 4 team leaders to A Tour de France. As expected Levi Leipheimer who amazed the cycling world by participating in every stage of the Tour de Suisse was named first co-co-co-co-leader and will be looking to improve on his Top 20 finish from last year. In related news Aspen food cart Cache Cache announced in honor of Levi they are offering a limited edition Ham and Swiss featuring hand sliced Wonder Bread and mayo (mustard is too flashy according to Cache Cache management) dubbed The Finisher which will be available through July for only $24.95(+tip).

Andreas Kloden has had some good results in some non descript races this season. Bruyneel added “Andreas is a committed Masters racer and ads a lot of depth and experience, plus he is from Germany so you know he is good “. Should one of the other 3 falter Kloden is expected to be near the top 20.

Chris Horner who declared himself the 2nd or 3rd best rider in the world after winning the Tour of California earlier in the year is probably “The Shack’s” best hope for a top 10 finish. According to Bruyneel “Horner has designed his own build up to A Tour and has really been putting it to the tri geeks in San Diego.”

Janez Brajkovic rounds out the leadership for “The Shack”. Assuming he meet’s the UCI minimum weight limit he is a likely finisher as well. Last year he was able to beat Alberto Contador in a post tour crit so he could be a dark horse.

The final 5 riders will be determined by a Facebook poll. Bruyneel says he is looking forward to seeing the final roster. When asked if it is hard to stay motivated after all these years Bruyneel had this to say. “Yes it was great when Lance was on top and we knew what to expect but you have to be creative. 2 years ago we had Contador to undermine which kept everyone on edge. Last year we pretended to support Levi after Lance cracked. This year we have more leaders than ever before and will no doubt win the Masters competition.”

Like I said I may never be a Contador fan boy but begrudgingly I do have to respect him. That creep can roll man.

http://www.dairylanddare.com/routes_2009.html

http://www.dairylanddare.com/files/DLD200K_HHH200K_profile.pdf

For a fellow used to looking up at and riding among tall mountains in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and the Sierra the terrain in Wisconsin looked wonderfully benign. I knew that as soon as I said something like, “this doesn’t look so bad” I would be punished so I kept the thought to myself. And got punished anyway.

The Dairyland Dare is a ride, not a race. I went into it like I would have started up a big climb in the Alps, “go as hard as you can, chase anyone who passes you, leave a little bit in reserve but not much, finish in good style, don’t quit. Whatever you are looking for will find you if you don’t find it first.”

The course passes in front of Taliesin East, Frank LLoyd Wright’s summer home. The year I did it the ride took place on the 95th anniversary of a gruesome day when one of Wright’s servants torched the house and murdered seven people with an axe as the fire burned (Wright was away at the time). Auspicious, or not?

The Midwest terrain kicked my ass. There are some easy climbs, rollers with false tops, and some really steep bastards that made me wish for slightly easier gearing. Most of the climbs are relatively short so it’s hard to get into a rhythm. It’s not at all like climbing out west where I can settle in and just deal with it for many miles: the first climb of the Everest Challenge covers 22 miles. The Dairyland Dare was a total cassette-trashing affair, the gears are all over the place. I would go from my pushing my biggest gear at 45mph downhill to the barely squeaking by in my smallest gear up some heinous 15% or steeper grade at 6mph in the space of a few hundred meters. Nerve-wracking but ultimately my ability to recover quickly worked in my favor.

The trick to going fast I found was to keep pedaling. Even if I was soft-pedaling I kept turning the cranks, kept the train rolling. I saw too many who crested a hilltop and began to coast. I would pedal past, keep grabbing gears, not even pushing hard but look back a few seconds later to find them gone. Psychologically they were destroying themselves: every time they went over the top and allowed themselves to coast it sent the “I’m tired” message to the brain. They slowed, they sat, they gave up for those few moments, and sooner or later the brain began to agree, to contribute fewer resources, and to send its own message, “yes, you’re tired, coast some more, maybe you’ll get it back, maybe if you hang out for a while at the next feed zone you will recover and feel better and then you’ll be able to ride strongly to the finish” and it never happens. The fatigue just gets worse.

There were a lot of sketchy riders. That happens in races, in the lower categories, of course, but I have never seen so many people who rode like they were the only ones on the road: going into a corner hot inside and drifting all the way outside … madness. Fucking scary. In fact, I crashed going into the Pleasant Ridge feed zone when two guys ahead had a moment of indecision about whether to stop or not. I cut the corner tight to avoid hitting them and went down in the gravel. It bled a lot, and was quite gory looking. Even after some first aid it was still leaking and many commented on it as I rode past, “are you OK?” Yeah, mostly.

The heat/humidity was brutal (for this high desert dweller). The heat index was probably mid/upper 90s and no evaporation. It was tough to tell how much I was sweating since I was wet starting ten minutes into it and stayed wet the entire day. There was one point going uphill in the dead still air when I began wondering if a person’s head could actually spring a pressure leak like an overheating radiator … it felt all tingly a few times and started me thinking negative thoughts.

An argument raged in my head for the last few miles. Go ahead, slow down. Coast. Recover. Let up. Fuck that. You’re being a pussy. Don’t listen to him. Keep pedaling. Drink something. Pour some water on your head while it’s still cold. Try to gag down another gel. No don’t, the gel is what’s making your stomach cranky. Just drink. Coast. Don’t push so hard because it’s what causes the sloshing and those nasty burps. My elbow hurts, maybe I should stop and have it looked at. Keep going. Someone out there is suffering more. No, I’m the only one suffering so much. I’m unique. I’m entitled to rest, to coast. Look at that guy, 250lbs at least. He is suffering with a capital S. In this heat? Fucking ballsy. Yeah, it’s hot, pull over in the shade. No, even if I’m not going as fast as I would like I’m still passing virtually everyone I see. I must be doing OK. So I ground it out to the finish. And it turned out the voice that was pushing me, believing in me, was right.

The chip timing service was a bit funky. Some riders missed timing strips or whole sections of the course so they posted impossibly fast times. Others hit it right. Last year’s fastest overall finished seven minutes ahead of me this year, and when all the erroneous times were excised from the results I was 5th of 220, which strokes the ego but that’s not what I was after.

It was an ass-kicking I was looking for, and received, and one I’d volunteer for again. I came out of the adventure slightly different, knowing more, better, and that’s what I am chasing. I found it in Wisconsin, of all places.