Final Night in the Kingdom of Kross.

With day light savings approaching we held a final Practice. Three of the four horsemen appeared and did Karla and Paul without a K in his name.
MiKe also showed. A new rhythm section was added and bit Steve K hard on lap one. All the K's except Karla tasted soil tonight. I enjoyed riding my SS steel KX rig. Those old Suntour Pro brake with Matthsausers are the best. Nice sky transition in the pics. Blogger's not leeting me post the pics. Will try later.

Final praktice from the Kingdom of Kross.

On what turned out to be just a cold and not wet night. Three horsemen of K appeared along with Karla and Paul without a K. Seeing another chance to try the SS rig I chose that weapon. I aslo added the supercross rhythm section exiting the mowed section. Steve K krashed hard on his kollarbone on lap one. The section was widened a bit,but I'm pretty sure it will be in the kourse. All riders except Karla hit the turf at least once tonight. Karla said "I wasn't going fast enough".

Final praktice from the Kingdom of Kross.

On what turned out to be just a cold and not wet night. Three horsemen of K appeared along with Karla and Paul without a K. Seeing another chance to try the SS rig I chose that weapon. I aslo added the supercross rhythm section exiting the mowed section. Steve K krashed hard on his kollarbone on lap one. The section was widened a bit,but I'm pretty sure it will be in the kourse. All riders exceot Karla hit the tirf at least once tonight. Karla said "I wasn't going fast enough".
A nice progression of the sky in 45 minutes.

Fresh off the embroidery loops.
NY Cross series particpants will soon have a shot at another limited run hat.
So along with shooting for aone of those ceramic trophies at The Greene CX you'll have a shot at a NY Cross Contingent beanie.

Netizens and blogs.
Now I only know Molly Cameron from his Blog and Vanilla bicycles. But I got to meet him at Granogue. Nice guy. We had a good chat he said he'd heard of the one gear queer. Cool.
Molly's weekend went awry for him on Sunday. Not sure what went wrong. But he had to run part of a lap losing a ton of spots. But we cheered him on with full vigor.
Molly,nice to meet you. I'll link the blog.
Nice ink too.

Sucking on the end of a shotgun.
Now it wasn't that bad. But I told Rik. I figured he'd want the Henry's kit back after my pathetic ride saturday. I was not happy with myself. He asked"Are you having fun?" Of course, I love cross. He said "That's all that matters" You represent. That's all that counts. Do I belong to the best team or what? I'll do it proud here in NY.
This is Rik showing the love.

Back to Granogue and Wissahickon.
So it's time for our pilgramage back to the Delaware Cross Coaliton and southern Pa big time cross events. MiKe K, myself and Paul S. Made th e trip down. This was Pauls first big event. He got 14th. A nice result.Mike K did about the same as last year. I go caught up in the first turn mess and the legs never really got going. Not sure the brain did either. I sucked ass bigtime. Who better to beat up than myself? The beer and pro race were all sweet. Katie sent the other girls packing.
Sunday, was a btter day for me I felt good warming up and was ready to rock. Third row start. Tom pulls out of his pedal about a 1/3 OF THE WAY UP. Crunch a big tangle of riders I end up 2nd to last in turn one.
But made it up to 45th of 80. Rode like me,felt like me. Had a couple tasty beers. Mike popped off a top 25. Way to go. Hung with the real Kings of K from Kona.
Pics are Dan Timmerman, local NY honch tearing it up with the big dogs. Myself , Treefarm and Wicks. A whole lot of Secret Henrys at the start.

It Happens in Threes.
Yesterday I should have stayed home from work. First one of my students goes off on me . "You can fucking shove this lesson up your ass." Now this is a girl mind you. The she tells me to just "Shut the hell up!". So I get ready to go home and find that someone has stolen my Ipod out of jacket out of my closet in my room. F%$K!!!. No one knew I even had it there. So today I ask another female student about here whereabouts after being gone to the bathroom almost all period. "Well I'm having my period! Do you just want me bleeding all over?" Thanks for sharing the class needed that. Let me mark the calendar for next month. Is it the weather?
Tonight was Kross practice I was going out come hell or high water and it did. So three of us worked on skills and hill repeats. I felt better. Besides the threes are over.

Syracuse GP. The Cross circus continued this weekend. I did the double here last year. It really helped. So it was the double again. Current series leader Andy MelenchenKo tore it up with Glenn Swan in pursuit and myself in third. The a guy crashes into me in the gravel and back to 5th I go. Fought back to third. But in the end ended up 5th. That moved me up to third in the Series. Line up for Open Men after the hectic number removal/pinning gulp down a gel, a drink. Not a bad start 8th or 9th.
Dan Timmerman is flying we come around on lap 3 the board says 8 to go. I'm fading in spots and stronger others as my backwards spiral starts.
I end up 17th. But it's training and I beat half the field that probably only did one race. Mike K had a good ride for 7th place.

Thunderdome . Part two.
Our local kross practices have been getting better. The Four Horsemen continue to rule the Kingdom.
Last night I went to a friends daughters birthday party. She turned 30. Well it was free beer and food. Hmmm free beer?
The saving grace it was Bud, Miller etc. So we had a couple ate some food. Chewed the fat and this lands me a Halloween party invite. Sounds like fun. Then it was off to McGirks for Dirt Farm. We saw Henk and his wife as we entered. Good to see them out. I also ran into a former students parents. Good people. We chatted. They were leaving so we took their table.
The owner knows Henk and Connie. So he throws 4 chips on the table. Hmmm free beer again. But now I have choices. Then as were enjoying the band the waitress comes and asks our order. Another round on the owner. It would have been easy to drink away last night. BUT the NYCX series resumes tomorrow and I'm headed for the double. I'll be doing Open Men and the Masters race back to back. It worked last year,so stick with what you know.

A perfect day, again. Day two.
Awoke to another clear blue sky. Got up htrew in a load of laundry had a quick breakfast. Let is settle and headed out the door to do my "cross intervals".
The plan was to ride the V-Strom to Wagners Winery/Brewery have lunch on the deck. Just enjoy the foilage and sites.
I had a veggie wrap. Bob had a Turkey sandwich and a Lager. Pretty good stuff. The parking lot was filled with. RUBS as was the deck. I commmented to Bob, I should ask them if they're Hells Angels? In all their new leather, do rags, shades and attitude.
So we left there and hit Cowlicks a little cheese plant that has gelato. Yum. The owner and his two daughters were sitting outside when we pulled in. The two little girls were making pumpkin people and enjoying it as only kids can. Bob had a mocha I had chocolate. More yum.
We headed home. Hit Taughhannock falls for little walk and to see some falls. Now winding from Rt 96 to 79 is a pain in the ass in Ithaca. When all of a sudden I see a clown, face paint,the shoes, everything on a Harley behind us. Priceless. No Harley attitude from this guy. How you'd shift and brake in those shoes is beyond me. But he was having a ball. It made the trip even better. ( I had to pull the camera out of the tank bag in traffice and shoot the pic with gloves on.Look close at his feet.)
The Strom rode great two up and the new back rest got a thumbs up from Bob.
Day three off to Shindagin for some of the best riding in the area.

A perfect day, Part one.
It started with sleeping a bit later. Then breakfast out. We were on our way to work at the Adopt a Highway. A section of our hilly TT now is part of the program. As Dave always said . "He was a climber trapped in a sprinters body. Twenty two people showed up under a clear blue sky and we made short work of the litter. No big finds.
Lots of lottery tickets and cigarette butts. But nothing really,funny, gross or "How did this get here?".
Then a SS ride with Pops at CVSP on the Carver 96'er. Best bike period. Then off to the Ale house.

I had this dream and it was not about women. I saw this hippy and looked like Neil Young he said I've heard your song it's already been sung.
Well we hit our favorite haunt for Bob's birthday,The Ale house. Yes folks more pizza and beer. But we saw this strange thing in the parking lot Pandas driving a VW. Works for me. Just like that your dreams miss you ad. I love it. As usual the pie and beer we good.
Now Bob had brought Shoo fly pie and funny cake for Tish. Because she'd never had it. Well the Shoo fly became dessert and Tish didn't eat her "gooey bits". This being the best part of the pie. Bad girl.

Through the wine glass dimly.
Cliff our favorite wine steward and all around nice guy. Had us for dinner prior to his heading off for prostate surgery. Need less to say it was the topic of discussion. But he is a wise man and has researched all the options and made his choices. So we wish him the best and a speedy recovery. Besides Cliff we ordered the dumpster and lots of recycle bins. Don't worry you won't recognize a thing. Oh and what's your favorite color? White.sorry can't do it.

The Four Horsemen of Cross'
Let me explain we have a small CX contingent. The horsepower that has come to the front all along have a K in their name. Kane,Krisco, Kumiega and Karl.
Another night of cross practice. Early rains let some spots damp and wet. But on the whole the course was dry. Another new course,this one my be a keeper. Tonights practice focused on run ups for me. Mikes barrier section was an awkward one with a rise right before it. Not a lot of speed. The second was on a hill right after a 180.
As the race unfolded the Four K's and Jerry were apparent at the front. For some reason I always seem to lead the first lap. Even if I ride slow.. Well tonight on lap 2, one of "other" K's took off. I let him go. The pattern has been he'll fade. But oddly the legs felt good. I cought him on the run up and countered. Now it was big ring time. The gap opened. I figured Mike K would bridge. After 4-5 laps of hard effort I eased off to let mike on we rode a few laps together then he pulled through.
With two to go we cranked it up,on one to go I shifted up one more gear for the road as I'd done all night and got away.
Wish I'd had those legs Sunday. But it's all working out now,seems like the legs are on track.

Pics from the Swandrome

As Tina Turner would say "Welcome to Thunderdome"
Today was the first race of the CNY Cross series. I awoke to a heavy down pour. Ahh the perfect start for cross. But it wasn't raining by the time I got up. The plan was to meet Mike and Pops at the fire station and drive up together. The skies cleared a bit on the way over. Glenn greeted us at the "Swandrome" and told us the course was in great shape. A practice lap confirmed that. So we warmed up and got ready for race. Off we went. I didn't feel great on the first climb and dropped a couple places but new most of the Masters were behind me. Spokepost.com owner Matt Howey took a hard header in front of me and I almost split him in half,but avoided him. Then Glenn and Ernie tag teamed me. So the chase was on. Mike got a good start and was up front. I knew I was top ten overall and had to find my rhythm. We started lapping on lap 4. Then a couple guys started to hound me. I hung in there as the laps closed one got by then the other. I passed him back. Opened a bit of breathing room. Then he came back on the last lap and got me. Damn,they were both Masters I didn't recognize. I ended up 6th in the 40+. Mike was 6th in Open Men. Bob took some good pics for us.
Then it was hit Ithaca for the Apple Fest. We got the full experience,hippe chick, panhandlers, Cornell kids and the usual Commons crowd. Wnated some ice cream and apple crisp,but the line was too long. So we headed home for Audrey's home made pie. Instaed we had some cobbler. Yum
Got the bike washed and everything ready for Tuesday. I've got some CX work to do. Looks like we'll get two good days of CX practice this week this week. The bed of truth is open.