I am the King. But I am not an imitator.


As you know I love Kross. It is the purest form of racing. No real tactics,just the purity of pain. May the best man win.
As the "Godfather" of Kross here in NYS. I am looked to for may reasons. How do I get started? How can I improve my starts, dismounts etc? How do I train. When you've been on top and drank from the chalice, there's nowhere to go but down. Or you can fight to be on top. Some people may never win,but their spirit is as great as the winners. They lay it all on the line week after week. But when your on top, they're all gunning for you. If you lose. "Why didn't you win? or "You didn't win". You are now a failure in their eyes. Other cyclists get it. You're only as good as your last race.
So Crossresults.com had me picked to win a number of races. Some I did. Some I didn't. Their algorithm isn't 100% as they say. For one race they had someone picked that's never beaten me. Even he said that.
Either way the bulls eye is on your back.
I was picked to win the Pa. State Championships by a slim margin points wise. I knew alot of the guys I'd be going up against. Two weeks of sickness after the DPM left me pretty ragged. The with five days of training in my legs I headed to PA. The course was pretty much a horsepower course. Where it was technical I had to kill it even at redline to use any advantage.  I started on the front row, took the holeshot and lead into the mud three slid by these were my "three". The motor wasn't quite up to it yet. On the uphill drag a few more came by. I passed them right back at the top. Now the goal was race forward and catch Dennis to get back in the top three. We made our way into the 45+ pretty quickly. I dragged  a few around on my tail. Then with two to go. I thought I passed Dennis on the climb. Now to get away and a secure a podium. Then with one to go I see him heading at me on a switch back/ What the? I know him and must have passed someone I thought was him. Goal now was bury myself and try to catch him. I had a pesky Moots rider on my tail for a couple laps. He attacked on the run up. I had a quicker remount and passed him right back. The he tries to pass and crashes. Nearly taking me out too. That's racing he's up quick and we sprint to the line. I held him off. Overall a good race. A podium would have been nice. My feeling for the start it's the last one of the season. Leave it all out there. As I told Mills as I rolled out to the start. Time to win a championship. I did and had the Kross hack after. Thanks guys, good race. See you next year.
 I'd call my season a success. Four wins, four seconds and fourth.
It could have been five wins, but crashes are part of it. All my wins came in a row. I'd set goals and made some. Can I win the Ommegang Kross. I believe I can.
My big goal of the year was worlds in Louisville. But changes and money played a part in this. So I'll now say I won't be at the big show. would it have been cool? Sure it would. But in the end it's a bike race.
So I'd like to say thanks to all who toed the line this year and made for a great year of racing. Thanks to all the sponsors that have stood by me and the new ones who came through in the 11th hour.


So as Steve Earle says. " The revolution starts now".  I'll be back.


So eat good food, drink good beer and ride your bike.


Go see J Edgar.


New on the Ipod. Blaming Sally and Nashville Pussy

So Kross season has been going well. I carded my first win at West Point and rolled that into victory at Syracross.
Syracross was our first taste of Kross weather. Cold and snow the night before. At first I wasn't loving the course then it sunk in. Legs were cold at the start and it was a scrum. It took two laps for the legs to fire. Bryan had passed me and the gaol was to beat him today. He's been riding well. I passed him back and he stuck to me. I could hear him on the climbs. Going into the last lap the plan was to hit him on the climbs. Turns out that was his too,then attack me again the "House of Mirrors". It didn't come, he was there on the climb,but he said"It was a pleasure to follow me through the House of Mirrors. He said "You were so smooth." I hit at the end there. I didn't want a sprint and the downhill was another opportunity for us both. We drilled it and I pinched it all the way yo the line. The picture tells the story.

Great race Bryan,great cookies too. Waffles and Middle Ages Pale Ale followed.
I'm burning the candle at both ens to get ready to race and promote the next two races.

As Kona says " Go fast Dad, Go fast!"

Eat good food, drink good beer and ride your bike. OGQ

Times change so does brand loyalty. First it was Diadoras made in Czechoslovakia. Fit me like a glove.
Then they made them in Romania,not so good. These are muddy warm up shoes now.
Then came Nike's. I had an ORANGE pair. Great shoe a little heavy. Nike thought they'd take over the market. Not quite, picked up the red ones on EBay cheap and they last.

Next came the Specialized S Works. After the fit of my road shoes. I had to have a pair of MTB shoes.

These needed no mods for Kross. No carving. Just bliss for my dogs.

Up next is the Lake Boas. Thanks to Bonktown.  A steal. I've had Lakes before. Good fit.
So these needed mods. Maybe the new style cleats would be better so far so good. They are the new "back ups".


( Once again blogger won't let me up load pics) maybe you can see the boas another day. Or at the top of the page.
Off to to do the double in Troy this weekend. A new venue for me and the first double in awhile.
Then it's off to West Point for another new race the following weekend.

Queens of the Stone Age are rocking it now for me.


So you are what you are. 1st or 40 th.


Eat good food, drink good beer, Ride Kross like there is no tomorrow.

Like anyone after a break up,I'm having good days and bad. My friends brighten my days. But when I'm not busy things creep into my head. I need to look forward focus and move on.Kross is in sight and the legs are coming.
This will be part two of the Kali vacation.


Riding the Santa Barbara area was incredible form the mountains to the club rides. My first club ride was at 7am. All rides seemed to start that early. There were 4 groups of 20 to 40 cyclist. I picked what I thought would be my group. As with any group "your legs" decide. So out we rolled. Bang 26/27 mph no talking. Hmmm. I'll sit in the middle. Then the first hill hit and it explode. I wasn't ready for this. But we regrouped at the top. I was beat. Travel time,time change ? Who knows. I decide to go back with the group that was turning around. Bang again the attacks came one after another. In the end we did 54 miles at 24.4 mph faster than my races at home.
That evening walking around town an electric utility bike caught my eye. As we were looking at the owner introduced himself (Dave Letierri) and we talked bikes. I told him about the ride. He smiled. He then invited me to ride with his group Tuesday morning. cool, I'll be there. Then spinning the next day. I met a guy and said who he was. He was, "Dude that guy is badass." What? Turns out

he was a pro and Olympian and Lance's mechanic at the tour. Great guy. He owns Fastrack Bicycles in SB.

His shop was super cool.

So I show up for his ride. Introduced all around friendly group. We headed out for the "hills". Turns out we were going to go climb  all of the mountain I rode half of the day before. Up to painted cave we went.  54 minutes up,18 down. Saw a rattlesnake without it's head and tail. Talismans?

We did the ride and had a coffee. Thanks Dave. He also gave us lots of local advice.

Our travels took us to Venice beach. Counter culture to the hilt. Did see the muscle guys. But Mills and I had to dip a toe in the ocean. Venice beach brewing was the choice for lunch. Their motto was "You don't have to eat crappy for here."

Did a little hat shopping here.

I got a haircut to help the homeless. Pretty cool. Betty Page girls cutting hair right on the beach.

Lots of interesting panhandlers here on the beach. Lots of vendors that were pro weed. Some good street musicians and college kids just goofing on people. A big change from the polished presence of Santa Monica.

In homage to the Jetta was this Mazda. Art or housing?

Our next adventure took us to the Hearst Castle. This was truly fun. It was easy to just lose your self in the  beauty of it all. The pool was amazing. They dug it up three times to just redo it.

OK kids. That's enough for today. Getting kind of blurry here.

So eat good food,drink good beer and ride your bike. OGQ

R.I.P.   8/12/11 No more tales of City Mouse and Country Mouse. That story has closed. I won't go into details. But it was a sad ending for Country Mouse. Turn the page.


Since blogs kind of run in reverse I have a lot to catch up on.


The vacation in Kali was great. Santa Barbara. What a place. If I was a trustafarian I'd retire there.


Country mouse, Jaunty Mouse and Vino Mouse made the journey to Pixburg to fly out of there.
We started the wine journey with a bottle from a friends vineyard. Rogers and Roberts.

A nice capresee salad. What would this blog be without food? 

We'd rented a house on Craigslist and Vino took care of the car rental. The bike had been shipped out ahead of time. All flight connected and soon we were in LA. Again I have a skewed perspective of Kali. I think everyone drives a cool car,hot rod, low rider etc or it's all choppers. None to be seen.  We did see lots of old cars in great shape. Kind of time travel with cars. We also one genuine low rider a couple lead sleds. One chopper a Big Dog,exactly what it is.

We settled into out digs and went grocery shopping. The Von's near us was a very good market.

Those in the know will get it. So I get up for the Saturday club ride at 7AM. UGH, I'm on east coast time. So around 60 guys show up for this. Here's the M.O. for the rides. Everyone is on high end bikes and Zipps with tubulars are de riguer. Not a aluminum wheel in sight. Dura Ace DI 2 in abundance. If you've seen it in a magazine and it costs too much it was there. Kind of like riding in  catalog. Good for them and the bike industry. This ride was like a race. Who know's what kind of HP was there but it was fast,all the time. We finally regrouped at the top of a long climb. I was whipped and they were going to go 75 miles. I headed back for with a group for 54. Even the return was a flurry of attacks. 24.6 avg speed. More than most races at home.

Our first trip took us to Solvang. The idea follow the movie Sideways. Vino Mouse was  a star. So we took in the countryside and sipped. Blackjack being a favorite.

A field of orange. Splendid.

Memory lapse on days here. I should keep a journal or have done it daily in Kali.

I'd discovered the Brewhouse on the net. It said "Best happy hour in SB". Well, we had fun there and Beth our waitress was the best. I was going to make a video of her and send it to the Ale House to show them how to treat customers. She told us "You can try others, but you'll be back." She was right.

We tried Santa Barbara Brewing OK, but out of beers and no outside seating. The Union Ale House,the worst. Couldn't even get three beers right. We ran for the Brewhouse after that one.

Hollister Brewing. Like going to TGI Fridays with a brewery in it. So the Brewhouse became our home. Beth recommended "the team" as she called us,come for brunch. It was great too. They made a Habernero beer. Did it by 2oz shots. Tasty, but was enough. Cold,then the heat came. They also made a jalapeno popper with fresh jalapenos,goat cheese and bacon. These were super. But the heat varied from a 1 to a 7. I also had the "Cruel Prawn" That was hot. Thats' Pete the brew master. He came out to meet the team. Of course I'm representing Omme. On our last trip there I gave Beth the shirt.

Latino girls are hot. It was Fiesta days in SB. They had this cultural tradition of taking eggs that had been filled with confetti and you smash it on someones head. No could explain it. Confetti filled the streets. The girls said OH you have to put it on Face book.

So let's go to the farmers market. I'd be there everyday. What produce. Things I'd never seen. I got squash blossoms to make. Pretty tasty. This homeless lady was classic. Check the sign. The joy of giving. If I just sit here. You'll give. Sure I will. We saw her around town with various signs.

Now for produce pics.

And a sweet old ride.

OK kids Country mouse has had enough computer for the day.

So ride your bike,eat good food,drink good beer and love the one your with. OGQ

I'll get to riding part soon. That was incredible.

Let's start with work is over. I took a beating and made my peace. Then got smacked down and got back up again. "We're going with our strengths" they said. I feel the love. Enough said.

So the Vintage Flat Track Nationals rolled into town. This would be my second time there.
Again. It made me want to race motorcycles. Even in a circle. Too bad they don't have a 150 class. I might have done it.
Bubba Shobert was the guest and even cut a few laps on his factory Honda.
We were probably the only guys in the stands drinking craft beer from cans.
Dales Pale Ale and Scotch Ales. We might have been the only fans with a full set of teeth too. But all had fun and that's what matters.
Some of the "old guys" can still tear it up.

• Now we move on. I did the Pixburg gig. Even cooked up a storm. Got some good rides on new  roads and even got lost once. Did the wed crit. It was the club night. 30 laps 30 primes.

I took a flyer hoping to stay out there. No chance of me winning a sprint. As AJ says "If you're going to attack. The fucking attack."  This could be the only strategy that works at this race. So next week will see me trying. A crit king I'm not. But if you can disrupt the rhythm, go for it.

So on the ride I find some  Butterfly bushes and decide we need to go dig them up. Vince got a little freaked by me standing a in a field digging up plants while people went by.

Beers any one? Maybe food too. It is my blog. I have a rep.

I sent out an email to do an "Adventure Ride"  not  a hammer fest. Ride north then hit some dirt roads on the road bikes.

I had two takers. Ed came equipped with the Ridley with nice new fat 27's. Cory had the usual. I had the Merlin.  Ed says I keep getting sidewall cuts this year before we roll out.
Away we go.

At the out set of the ride Cory pointed out that it could be a good day for people to "Put the couch on the lawn and get the kiddy pool out to soak your feet in and get the 30 pack to watch NASCAR"

Highlights of the ride.

1. A little Kross action on South St. Due to the road being closed.

 

2. Cory hearing dogs in the brush and yelling dogs just in time to save Ed and I. The luckier part was the one rottweiler bit the other rather then me. This time on North St.

3. We're telling Ed about the "Parthenon". As we're commenting on it. The owner is in the yard and yells "Hey you guys need to use the bathroom?"

We weren't sure if it was sarcasm or creepy. It's on North St if you need to see it.

4. Rt 41 Provides us with our first two couches. One complete with duct tape.

5. The seasonal road Stone Quarry Hill lives up to it's name.

6. At the top while Ed is fixing a flat. A pick up pulls up and says " The other guy is coming". Oh OK. After a bit here comes a guy pushing his bike up the hill in other direction. We all look alike, even in jeans and riding a Roadmaster.

7. After another dog attack we see the moose. Too bad the pic isn't that good to see it. He'll be there on Robbins road. He's to the right of Ed's head.

8. Office furniture began to overtake couches as the new lawn furniture.

Overall two flats in 70 miles. No disasters and plenty of seasonal roads to go back and explore.

The savior of the rides was the "Hurricane" a small frame pump.

This week its race Saturday. Then Drive to Pixburg for a Lucinda Williams show, a Pirates game and the Pixburg Grand Prix.

That sucks about Horner in the Tour. He was going to kick Levi's ass and show him who's boss.

So eat good food, drink good beer and love the one you're with.