tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87654914668526896922012-01-29T12:58:48.317-05:00Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.comBlogger4651100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-7353508693590091732012-01-21T14:51:00.003-05:002012-01-24T18:44:34.880-05:00

In 2010, Nationals were in Bend, and I had three great reasons not to go: 1) Bend is a plane flight away, and I hate flying with bikes and renting cars and all that crap. 2) My racing age was 29, so the only race I could do at Nats was the Elite Men's race. 3) Nationals was on the same day as THE BEST RACE IN THE WORLD. Well, wouldn't you know it, all three of these reasons were off the table

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-61087996483184191682011-12-16T18:22:00.000-05:002011-12-16T18:22:53.634-05:00

I've figured out the progession, now, every year Ice Weasels gets bigger, and every year I ride slower. This year, there was almost no point to lining up -- I was on 5 hours sleep, sick, and barely ate all morning. Luckily there's more to bike racing than what place you finish in -- like the fact that this year's course was AWESOME. I really didn't care how I did, I just wanted to do some

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-47124322344118461392011-12-07T21:10:00.000-05:002011-12-07T21:10:12.820-05:00

I have never been so pleasantly surprised by a race course in my life as I was at NBX Day 1. I prerode, and it was basically the fastest, easiest cross course in the history of bikes.  As someone who needs accelerations and technical sections to be respectable in the elite race, this sent me into immediate WHINE MODE. It also sent me into find-a-file-tread mode, because if there aren't any damn

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-44815648302726288422011-11-30T19:20:00.000-05:002011-11-30T19:20:06.996-05:00

So, the plus side of having a terrible weekend of racing at Sterling is that I don't really want to write about it, so I can roll back the clock to TEN WHOLE DAYS AGO and talk about the most epic cyclocross grudge match in the world, instead. Quick Sterling recap -- Day one was one of those days where you ride around and think about how NEXT YEAR I'M GONNA TRAIN BETTER.  My legs were flatter

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-61134881927641270402011-11-19T21:32:00.002-05:002011-11-30T12:31:39.289-05:00

I think my GoPro is starting to show its age.  Today's course was super fun, the racing was great, the field was large, and I wanted SOOOO BAD to make a sweet video of it. And then... on the start line... ye olde bar cam inexplicably keeps turning off instead of recording DAT FOOTAGE.  Nooooo! Anyway.  Text it is! People kept calling the VeloCross course "mountain bikey," but I like to think

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-54796615753281628862011-11-18T11:41:00.000-05:002011-11-18T11:41:55.700-05:00

Dammit!  I posted this video to vimeo on Monday and then totally forgot to give it any kind of race report justice or bloggage.  GO GO GO! So for the first time in my life I had Veteran's Day off (thanks Steve) and there was a HOLIDAY BIKE RACE to attend.  Awesome!  The fact that it was 90 minutes away and the 1/2/3 race started at 10am was but a minor hurdle... until I set my alarm for 5:45.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-38558945104459755362011-11-09T09:18:00.001-05:002011-11-09T11:25:14.004-05:00

Traditionally, CSI is where I save my cyclocross season, because it's a crazy-fast grass crit that lets wheelsucking sprinters like myself ride waaaay over their heads.  Despite this year's October snowpocalypse, Look Park melted in the nick of time and we got the file-tread conditions I was praying for.  The true professionals were in Cincinnati, but everyone who MATTERED (aka my cat 2 scrub

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-11008485835144786762011-10-30T20:23:00.001-04:002011-10-30T21:37:42.035-04:00

The Canton Cup highlights one of the things that makes 'cross so different from mountain bike racing:  it's one of the least interesting courses around, but as long as you can find a group of dudes to mix it up with it's a BLAST. If you get stuck time trialing around by yourself on the mostly-straight, minimally-technical, 9-minute laps, I'll forgive you for thinking that it sucks.  But 'cross

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-65652237264449896852011-10-27T19:52:00.000-04:002011-10-27T19:52:30.666-04:00

So apparently the price I pay for NOT racing Night Weasels (aka "how can a mountain be a BOG" Weasels) is that the next time I did show up for a cross race in New England we would get the exact same conditions.  Minus the mountain.  But Day 1 at New Gloucester was all the derailleur-snapping goodness that Night Weasels was... maybe more.  Out of the 23 finishers in the 60-minute elite race, I

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-66051899687631705432011-10-21T15:26:00.004-04:002011-10-21T20:01:39.764-04:00

Every once in a while, I do something here that isn't a race report.  I've been meaning to get this one out for a while, now, because it's EARLY CROSS SEASON which means that all anyone ever talks about is how other people need to upgrade. Personally, I don't spend as much time worrying about sandbaggers as my twitter account might suggest.  Such is the advantage of racing in the only category

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-274900138881691562011-10-18T22:19:00.000-04:002011-10-18T22:19:33.836-04:00

I have done exactly one non-UCI race this season, the Midnight Ride of Cyclocross, which had enough foreigners in it you'd have thought there were UCI points on the line.  So, a wise man might have taken advantage of the first non-UCI weekend in New England in the last month to stop getting sand kicked in his face by the actual good bike racers out there, and instead return the sand-kicking favor

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-76417880350292614922011-10-12T09:43:00.000-04:002011-10-12T09:43:10.744-04:00

I was totally shattered from a week of race promoting so I didn't race at all this weekend.  What's a guy to do?  Live vicariously through his girlfriend, of course! I put the GoPro on Christin's stem, but I neglected to notice that it had some kind of slippery varnish on it that my stem doesn't have... so after a lap, it slipped down and then she spent the rest of the race getting distracted by

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-70416524645252834302011-10-03T18:33:00.000-04:002011-10-03T18:33:54.140-04:00

I drew a back row start and passed like 40 guys in the first 2 minutes to get me into the "slighty over my head zone." Then I suffered like a dog to hang on... only to get lapped on the finish straight with one to go anyway. But so what, it was still awesome: He only heckles because he cares.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-13882539673494522692011-09-29T21:34:00.000-04:002011-09-29T21:34:59.313-04:00

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but by making crossresults.com my day job instead of my night job I actually got busier. The last few weeks since I got back from vacation out west have been as busy as I've ever been in my life. In case you were wondering why I wasn't cranking out blog content like the old days. Last night I went out to the Midnight Ride of Cyclocross and it was totally

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-63018086338432900502011-09-20T19:01:00.000-04:002011-09-20T19:01:51.320-04:00

This race is the perfect thing to cool off my cross fever.  I hadn't raced in 5 weeks (FIVE!  WEEKS!) and just like everyone else I was on the verge of melting due to the excitement of 'cross season.  So let's drive 3.5 hours to race a grass hillclimb!  Bike racing, guys! Thus ends my commentary on the Day 1 course.  Shut up and pedal, Colin!  Er, blog.  Like you do. My greatest failure was

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-77576837810340036122011-08-18T23:43:00.000-04:002011-08-18T23:43:02.245-04:00

The 24 Hours of Great Glen is a special race for me, because it's the perfect blend of stupidawesomesilly that gets me excited any time of the year. In the last 8 years, I've raced it 6 times and crewed it once. I have also been on the second place team for two years in a row now. Which is annoying, to say the least. This year there were terrifying rumors of a super-pro-team showing up and

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-70102601865914610842011-08-17T17:21:00.000-04:002011-08-17T17:21:31.895-04:00

I did this race last year and it was tons of fun and I got third. Thus I was SUPERSTOKED to do it this year. In related news, last year I was a Cat 4 in the 4/5 race. This year I am a Cat 3 in the 1/2/3 race. This time around was a little...different. I don't really do anything above threshold until 'cross season (except for intervals... yeah, I'm gonna do some intervals soon, I swear) so

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-42098311173589995352011-08-15T17:19:00.000-04:002011-08-15T17:19:57.085-04:00

A week late, just like I promised! Actually there is no race report at all. It was pouring rain, I had no legs, and was on pace for three hours of racing. I recognized that flogging myself and my bike for 3 hours to get last place was not conducive to what I really care about (smashing Great Glen the following weekend), so I dropped out with zero remorse. Jay Mueller properly epic-ified my

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-49481053365194070392011-08-08T19:26:00.000-04:002011-08-08T19:26:10.270-04:00

That's right, baby, we run our race reports on exact;y one week delay around here.  All part of the plan to fuzz my memories of an event hard enough that I can conjure up some false memories far more exciting than what really happened. Plus, this whole living-out-of-a-suitcase thing for half of every week doesn't leave me with the ample blogging time I used to have.  Just sayin'. ANYWAYZ, the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-37793880392589656312011-07-26T22:55:00.003-04:002011-07-27T12:29:32.145-04:00

Hey, you know what? If you don't finish bike races, you don't have much to blog about! And lately, I have been disturbingly good at not finishing bike races. But anyway, I did stuff in July, seriously. Check it out: HRRT Freedom Fest 3 Hour RaceThis was the ONLY bike racing option in all of the Northeast on July 4th weekend, because apparently promoters think everyone is on vacation and not

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-74033879653432963162011-07-01T15:29:00.000-04:002011-07-01T15:29:22.612-04:00

This weekend served up a fair bit of controversy in the New England mountain bike world, but it's the same old things we've been squawking about for years: why do EFTA and Root66 schedule events on the same day, and should we really race in this much mud? The former is infuriating. We had 125 people at Moody Park and 200 at Putney; the venues are 40 miles apart. Combine 'em and we could've

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-73666001983835437312011-06-21T21:17:00.003-04:002011-06-22T10:33:34.447-04:00

Last year I reunited my love affair with the Pinnacle, and I've been telling everyone who asks me about MTB racing that this is THE RACE to do if you like your courses LEGIT, but in a fun way. Not LEGIT in an evil way (looking at you, Coyote Hill). This year the promoters moved the Sport race to 9:30 AM, instead of with the expert/elite fields -- which was a good idea. Although giving them

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-86202988654379954152011-06-20T15:32:00.000-04:002011-06-20T15:32:39.703-04:00

I bet you thought you might see a Pinnacle Race Report here today.  Ha.  I am still trying to recover from the weekend, as always.  Here's the Coyote Hill Bar Cam I made last Friday:

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-24162039461647005942011-06-06T23:19:00.001-04:002011-06-08T09:56:00.077-04:00

I tried so hard not to do this race. First I tried the simple tactic of saying "after three straight weekend of racing, I'm taking one off." Didn't work. Everyone else was going. What if I miss something? Attempt #2: I think I'll replace the (totally frozen) headset bearings on my janky Top Fuel on Thursday night. Pop the old ones out, put the new ones in, five minute job... unless you "

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-34115716454374361602011-06-04T12:29:00.000-04:002011-06-04T12:29:37.793-04:00

Hey, it's Saturday, and you're reading blogs.  Trying to figure out if you want to race tomorrow? Maybe this will help.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-60679831709448519142011-06-03T09:16:00.003-04:002011-06-03T15:36:04.651-04:00

I think this might now be the only race I have done every single season I've raced mountain bikes. For serious, check it out: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. It's that good. Wait, is it good? I'm not sure any more. It's all singletrack, but it's lumpy and fresh cut and generally a mess. The FLOW is few and far between. But hey, it's a legit test of mountain biking ability (damn!) so put let's put

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-87267879268018041392011-05-26T14:16:00.000-04:002011-05-26T14:16:00.187-04:00

I started experimenting with running the bar cam in mountain bike races.  Not sure how I feel about it yet.  There's lots of action, but it requires a lot of editing to pull together, unlike cross where you can just show lap one and it's wheel-to-wheel madness.  But hey, here's some stuff!  Highlights include Dan Ward hitting a tree around 3:15,  Will vs a Rock Garden at 4:20 (heh heh) and me

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-77933247265469339982011-05-25T21:40:00.000-04:002011-05-25T21:40:24.669-04:00

I did this one last year and it was so awesome that I told all my MTB-owning-but-never-racing friends that this was THE RACE for them to do in 2011. Seriously, I got the "what MTB races should I check out?" question from a multitude of sources this offseason, and I told EVERYONE about THE WILLOW. ...and then they changed the course to have tons of doubletrack. Doh! But the non-doubletrack

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-85367914121128330912011-05-16T19:08:00.002-04:002011-05-16T20:02:20.191-04:00

You can tell I drank coffee before I wrote this, because I used half as many commas as I should've.  I'm not fixing it. I have a problem.  I really like the Glocester Grind.  It's rocky-rooty-technical, like get-off-your-bike-and-run-hard in places, and that's when it's NOT raining.  It rained the night before.  Holy crap this was going to be awesome!  Bike racing!! Despite a competing MTB race

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-51188013599507528042011-05-03T08:53:00.002-04:002011-05-03T14:57:18.363-04:00

Note:  this is the same report I posted on the Back Bay Team Blog, except with 2 pictures added.  When I do road stuff with the team I tend to post there first.  So you should put that in your RSS feed. One of my favorite things about road racing is how much time everyone spends talking about team tactics, just to have them all go directly out the window as soon as the race starts. Take, for

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-36685424959913190832011-04-24T15:53:00.001-04:002011-04-24T16:02:30.145-04:00

I started my mountain bike season a good 3-4 weeks later than usual this year, for reasons that I no longer remember. I was lax as usual about getting on the trainer in March and ended with about 15 hours total on the bike until recently -- so then I crash-trained a 15-hour week ending with Paris-Ancaster. Since I passed 1200 people in the race, clearly I must be in shape. Clearly. But then I

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-71261269820383044802011-04-20T09:31:00.001-04:002011-04-20T09:31:52.933-04:00

This looks exactly how it felt.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-92121902534512382592011-04-18T16:47:00.000-04:002011-04-18T16:47:40.929-04:00

It's pretty well established that I can't say no to a goodbad idea, so when Myerspace asked me if I wanted to make a 9-hour drive to Hamilton, Ontario for a 60k mtb/cross bike race it was really just a formality.  GET IN THE VAN.  Dave Chiu joined me as the other half of "Adam's entourage" and we headed west at 85 mph to take on 1500 Canadians in the legendary Paris to Ancaster bike race. Let me

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-54523893597390497332011-03-28T07:00:00.023-04:002011-03-28T14:39:24.187-04:00

Back in the late fall of 2006, I started cross, started a blog, and started a website. All of these things are still alive, much to my surprise, 4.5 years later. But it was dicey for bit, there. I like to use the "transitional period in my life" excuse for pretty much everything around here, but in this case it's spot on. You want to throw everything into your life into stark relief, try

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-89116809265444342642011-03-23T08:57:00.004-04:002011-03-23T13:10:54.874-04:00

The Birkie was not only the pinnacle of my season, it was also the ULTIMATE ROOMMATE GRUDGE MATCH. Which I won, by the way. In case you forgot. But, we made a pact that we would also do the Rangeley Lakes Loppet the following weekend, so that whomever lost the Birkie would have a shot at revenge, and whomever won it could spend the whole week worried about getting their fluke victory exposed (

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-72409029898160575312011-03-10T12:23:00.003-05:002011-03-10T12:35:52.208-05:00

2011 Birkie Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. I had a GoPro poking me in the back for 50k and all I got was this 188th place finish. Ski marathons are not a fundamentally action-packed experience, but I did what I could with the edit here. For more silly nordic-cams, check out last year.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-52484116524985229662011-03-04T14:08:00.000-05:002011-03-04T14:08:51.105-05:00

To say this has been a abnormal winter for me is an understatement. With the exception of a year in Florida, I've been XC ski racing almost every single weekend in the winter since 1996. Winter means skiing. Skiing means nordic. Nordic means racing. This time, though, things had been totally off the rails -- the only "real" ski race I did was Craftsbury, and I got blown out by the old men

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-35822769209262265442011-02-16T12:20:00.002-05:002011-02-16T13:50:08.477-05:00

So... ski racing down, rock climbing up, time to blog... down. Sometimes that's just what needs to happen. Time to rectify! After Craftsbury, I figured the best way to deal with clearly terrible ski fitness would be to bounce outta town the next weekend and go skiing in Colorado. And I don't mean nordic skiing. Thus 36 hours after being at sea level, I was at 11,000 feet at Monarch trying to

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-74530579339855537762011-02-02T11:39:00.001-05:002011-02-02T11:40:20.235-05:00

I've done a lot of classic marathons over the years. Well, like five. 250k of skiing, I'll call it a lot. Our good buddy New England winter *usually* makes these a klister-binder affair, because there's some nice transformed ice mixed in with the powder and with hundreds of skiers going through each track, the ice has a way of overcoming the powder. USUALLY. But I still can't explain why I

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-11371935536457449022011-01-25T16:59:00.003-05:002011-01-25T17:11:49.235-05:00

Tennessee State Championships Chainstay Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. I am way behind my 2010 racing pace after missing an ENTIRE weekend of race potential this week. Luckily I have sweet chainstay cam action from Tennessee to give me sweet, sweet content. After the bigtime UCI race on Saturday, about half the field headed to North Carolina for a different race on Sunday. I stayed with

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-17052359160739326852011-01-20T15:13:00.003-05:002011-01-20T15:38:30.971-05:00

Now that I'm the fake-pro-est person in my life, I can -- no, I am obligated to-- wantonly blow money on chasing the bike racing dream that I've long since given up on. A UCI race in Tennessee in the middle of January, with $180 airfare and transportation/lodging already set up? Who cares that I hung up the bike and started drinking/skiing a month ago, sign me up! The Wilcox was driving the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-58282830470416937812011-01-12T16:38:00.002-05:002011-01-12T21:40:30.273-05:00

I made my traditional jump back into ski racing before actually having any kind of fitness, just like every year, on Tuesday night. It was my 6th time on skis for the year, but more importantly, my first change to repay ROOMMATE CARY for abusing me all cross season. I strategically lined up deep in the field, to intentionally miss the front group, and thus not taste my lunch until at least the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-2385872448142293992011-01-10T10:19:00.001-05:002011-01-10T10:42:37.333-05:00

Wrentham Bandit Cross Bar Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. I recently made the questionable/awesome decision to fly to Tennessee next weekend for EVEN MORE UCI CROSS. Therefore I am putting off the nordic season for another two weeks (yeah, am I even a skier at this point? Not really) and trying to resurrect 60 minutes of race fitness from whatever you want to call the insanity that's been the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-22554860579632792882010-12-28T17:44:00.001-05:002010-12-28T17:45:41.727-05:00

NECX Champs Bar Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. I had to support the NECX Champs on principle, because I am always in favor of things that involve more cyclocross in the world. And not just because I make ONES of dollars on a cyclocross results website! Ice Weasels holeshotter/beer-drinker Jeremy Durrin was asking me about the bar cam midweek so I ended up putting it on his bike. I

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-88246249628642411002010-12-16T16:15:00.007-05:002010-12-16T18:02:35.699-05:00

Blog! Remember me? I'm at a transitional period in my life and insanely busy, but it's ok, we can still hang out sometimes! One of the things I was insanely busy with was PROMOTING THE WEASEL. Every year you run a race, it gets a little easier, which is why every year we add more stuff and do even less preparation. To make sure it doesn't get any easier! This year's highlights included

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-13967671367805940922010-12-03T16:41:00.000-05:002010-12-03T16:41:12.653-05:00

Baystate Cyclocross Day 1 Chainstay Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. My plan of not sleeping and drinking too much continued to catch up with me at Baystate Day 1, where I lined up second-from-last and finish sixth-from-last. Not much to say about this one as most of the race was gone by the end of lap one; but I did appreciate putting Hopengarten's elite debut on camera.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-76991890152077504952010-11-29T12:40:00.002-05:002010-11-29T12:40:17.208-05:00

My life continues to be shockingly full-throttle so I am not getting up any weekend content today. Here's a video from last week. Not too much excitement going on, although I do WRECK FOOLS on the rideup on lap two. Eat it, Cat 3's! BRC Shedd Park Chainstay Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-88151934372771700502010-11-24T17:32:00.000-05:002010-11-24T17:32:20.676-05:00

I have been drinking significantly more than usual lately, but as a cyclist that could really just mean "a few beers." And of course as a 145-lb cyclist, a few beers is enough to get me to agree to MC with RMM at Lowell. I've had a lot going on my life (see previous post, infrequent readers -- thanks for and thanks for the emails/comments, frequent readers) so this race was already marked as a

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-25381823737593519282010-11-19T09:46:00.002-05:002010-11-19T10:20:37.945-05:00

West Hill Shop Cyclocross Chainstay Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. You might've noticed that it's the end of the week, and once again I've got no race report up. This time I have a totally legit excuse -- my girlfriend of the last seven years broke up with me. YEAHHH THAT'LL STING. I love talking about myself on the internet, even when things go shitty (except usually it's just a "race report

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-15584176046653432262010-11-11T22:46:00.000-05:002010-11-11T22:46:06.438-05:00

You might think that after four years of racing cyclocross, I would have my shit dialed. That is not the case. Every year, my routine gets "refined," and by "refined" I mean warped around everything else that changes year-to-year. Last year I learned how to prep for the 3pm race when your girlfriend is racing the 2pm race; this year I'm learning how to prep for the 3pm race when your team is

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-80105235062964908652010-11-10T17:07:00.002-05:002010-11-11T17:47:47.363-05:00

After 2 weekends of random staging in UCI races, I gotta say, I'm totally cool with it. I mean, I want to be outraged, but when you get right down to it, stuff more or less sorts out where it should in 60 minutes of racing. And the excitement of the number draw is unparalleled. Then again I haven't drawn back row yet, so I could be a bit biased. Anyway, I snagged good ole #27 on Saturday,

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-39847213405680860582010-11-02T23:18:00.000-04:002010-11-02T23:18:40.933-04:00

Orchard Cross Chainstay Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. Every time I go to write this blog entry, I get caught up in the beauty of the chainstay cam and forget what I was doing. Gaaaaahd that looks good. I can't believe how stable it is. Seriously, just watch it. Yowza. Ok, so after lasting ninety seconds at Canton, I had a problem. I don't actually train at all during the week for most of

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-62634791362290287242010-10-30T21:15:00.000-04:002010-10-30T21:15:22.909-04:00

Canton Cup Chainstay Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. I lasted ninety. freaking. seconds. I had a front row start, which I converted into sixth wheel off the pavement. Lindine, Keough and Goguen were CHECKING OUT after 90 seconds and for no good reason I wanted to be up there. I lapped wheels with Sam Morse, ended up on the outside of a corner that was much rougher than I realized, lost the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-19939728842116451532010-10-28T23:14:00.001-04:002010-10-29T12:29:10.329-04:00

Downeast Cyclocross Day 1 Bar Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. Last year's Downeast CX was traumatic. Not only was it 38 and raining, but the course was bland on a level usually reserved for Canton (burnnnn). I was so not looking forward to coming back here that I thought long and hard about scheduling this as my "off weekend." As Verge series staff, I might have to show up -- but you can't

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-29658949320002668852010-10-26T15:19:00.000-04:002010-10-26T15:19:55.692-04:00

cyclocrossracing.com/MRC Bar Cam Lap 1 from colin reuter on Vimeo.I'll be honest with you, I completely forgot to blog about this after I made the videos. I had so much fun at the this race, and the internet was so abuzz with talk about it, I had this idea that I had contributed to the discussion as well. But then I went to write up Downeast Day 1 today and was like... wait... my last post was

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-75199910785502744032010-10-21T14:28:00.000-04:002010-10-21T14:28:08.590-04:00

Mansfield Hollow Cyclocross Lap 1 from colin reuter on Vimeo. Mansfield Hollow is a "classic" cyclocross course that's actually pretty legit these days. Back in the day (oh yeah, I can totally say that after 4 seasons) it had a million dismounts and an insane runup that you needed someone to belay you for, but now it's pretty "normal," except for the 3 sets of barriers and the 2 sandpits. And

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-46226013405203045422010-10-18T21:20:00.000-04:002010-10-18T21:20:30.095-04:00

After Night Weasels I was a wreck. We shot for the moon and pretty much made it, but being a first-time thing it was way stressful. Chip's blog entry about dropping out the Cat 3 race to do Cat 4 awards is a good example of how strung out we were. When I went to bed at 2am that night, I made a rare good decision: I was skipping Providence Day 1, which was just over 48 hours away. I also

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-31164987925624430182010-10-13T22:45:00.000-04:002010-10-13T22:45:52.679-04:00

I think the bar cam is actually my own personal guardian angel. Put it on the bike and NOTHING can befall me. I want sweet footage of crashes as much as the next guy -- but I and everyone around me seems to stay upright as soon as the camera's on. On the other hand, if the battery dies and I take it off on the start line... We were back to the traditional uphill start, which is about 100x

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-61659422507209441622010-10-11T10:52:00.000-04:002010-10-11T10:52:28.858-04:00

GP Gloucester Lap 1 UCI from colin reuter on Vimeo. Over here at UTSE we are running a week behind on race reports. You know how it is! In fact, this one is mainly a video report. For some reason we did a downhill start on Saturday at Gloucester which was INSANE. I actually ran out of gears (44x11) on the hill, you can see me clicking the right shifter in the video until it clicks no more.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-48787774250753215932010-09-30T09:21:00.002-04:002010-09-30T09:32:13.510-04:00

Hey, blog, remember me? That guy who used to write stuff on you? Yeahhh. I'm back! You still love me, right? Right?? It's Gloucester week. Gloucester is staging by crossresults.com points. It's the most awesome legitimization of the last three years of my work I could ever ask for. It's also completely terrifying. There is no way, with 1600 racers, that everything will go perfectly.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-15541259641124501242010-09-27T16:47:00.000-04:002010-09-27T16:47:26.362-04:00

I am not cool enough to go to Vegas, but Linnea is. I gave her the camera, with instructions to generate me some non-embarrassing blog content, since all I have is videos of me getting dropped by Cary. This is her contribution: Cross Vegas Elite Women Lap 1 from colin reuter on Vimeo. I stayed up until 1:30 AM watching the live/broken video feed from cyclingdirt. One of the highlights was her

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-86557274987669929362010-09-23T18:08:00.002-04:002010-09-23T20:39:08.056-04:00

Race reports! Do we still do these, internet? Or do we just update our Facebook status and be done with it? God, I hope not. Anyway, Day 1 in Vermont was yet another iteration of the long-gradual-climbing course they like to run up there. It is not "real cross" IMO, but of course, it is a "bike race" and therefore one should shut up and race it. The 2-minute power section from before the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-38531899358134832692010-09-21T08:56:00.001-04:002010-09-21T09:16:15.456-04:00

Not a typo. A "Camn" is just a cam that looks damnnnnn good. Green Mountain Cyclocross Day 2 Bar Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo. Lap highlights: * Josh Lehmann arms hitting my brake hoods as he tries to avoid the scorer's table in the start * A Keough crashing on the down/up and trying to go upstream with his bike to get out of the fray * Greg Whitney getting cleaned out by an unknown Canadian

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-7368421940086620212010-09-15T21:14:00.001-04:002010-09-15T23:23:05.897-04:00

It was only a matter of time. My plan of "do as much stuff as you can before you die" has finally backfired and now I have TOO MUCH STUFF TO DO. The blog is now far enough down the todo list that I can barely do it justice, but with cross season coming up I'm hoping for a resurgence starting next week. For now, let's catch up. I'm writing this from the Sun Valley airport as I prepare to miss

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-52559658243411387822010-08-25T23:09:00.006-04:002010-08-26T21:10:12.619-04:00

I did not race my bike this weekend.  It was a combination of post-24HOGGum depression and lack of appealing options.  This lead to some incredibly productive downtime, some of which even happened without the aid of caffeine.  Check it out. I made the crossresults.com team site.  Did I mention that I started a team?  I think so.  So far they are a beautiful army of misfit cyclist who heed my

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-21577346548296730042010-08-19T08:16:00.000-04:002010-08-19T08:16:31.021-04:00

The 24 hours of Great Glen is pretty much the highlight of my summer mountain bike season. It's not so much a race as an experience... as most normal races don't involve days off work, night rides, light warrantees, loss of sleep before the race, loss of sleep during the race, loss of wakefulness after the race, and a total inability to get of your own way for the next 3 days. Yeah, it's

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-58278787314372698682010-08-12T14:21:00.000-04:002010-08-12T14:21:24.325-04:00

Amateur bike racing at its "finest."

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-56739793026407261242010-08-10T08:42:00.000-04:002010-08-10T08:42:48.047-04:00

I think I decided to do this one last year, when they ran the first edition and everyone said "wow, that was like a cross race!" You can compare pretty much anything to 'cross and get me excited. If someone ever says "jury duty is like a cross race" I'm gonna be so disappointed. We had a healthy 5-man team from Back Bay in attendance, myself, Kevin, Mike, Harrison and Avi. We were the 3rd

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-80490939855581101262010-08-02T21:39:00.001-04:002010-08-02T23:59:56.096-04:00

Last year, I did the Darkhorse 40. It was 90 degrees and humid. I flatted out like a chump after 15 miles, sparing myself a good 2 hours of suffering in the heat, and also allowing me to be back home in Boston by 4pm. This might be why I was convinced that the event was SO AWESOME that I HAD to come back this year, even though I could've just driven to the local Root 66 race just an hour away.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-57336756649439067902010-07-28T13:01:00.001-04:002010-07-28T13:01:10.162-04:00

The Tour of the Hilltowns was my first road race ever. I rode Cat 5. Figured that I would do well, since I was an expert mountain biker. I WAS WRONG. I came back 2 years later, as a stronger rider, in Cat 4. I figured that I would do well. Was I wrong? Let's find out! We talked a bit about this being a Back Bay team race, but eventually attendance whittled down to me and

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-46569686089303286822010-07-21T16:14:00.002-04:002010-07-21T18:34:41.507-04:00

Lots of stuff went on this weekend (guess what? It involved bikes!) but none of it is screaming BLOG ME. So here we are, on Wednesday, with nothing reported. I figured leaving my bike sale post up for a few days would be a good idea, anyway. Excuses! Alright, so Saturday was the big bad Gran Fundo out in Easthampton with J-Pows. It was hot as hell, but not a race. However the front group

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-34310836326309719622010-07-16T21:45:00.003-04:002010-08-02T15:31:51.725-04:00

Update: These have both sold. Hey!  Do you like cross bikes??  Do you like buying cross bikes?  Are you 5'7" to 5'11"?  You are??  Well then I've got a deal for you! Bike #1 is a 2008 Ridley X-Fire.  This was raced by me during the 2008 cross season and placed 4th in the Verge 2/3 Men's series (damn you, Jeremy Dunn!).   Last year it was my pit bike and saw limited use.  The specs: 54" carbon

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-29435936407129048992010-07-13T12:14:00.000-04:002010-07-13T12:14:55.573-04:00

I'm pulling a Parsons on this one and sending you over to the Back Bay Cycling Club site to read about how my Attleboro critsperience went. Check back later in the week for a special "preorder" price on the crossresults.com kit, aka "wow kits are expensive and I don't want to put 30 of these things on my credit card."

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-34005215098633498852010-07-08T19:37:00.002-04:002010-07-08T23:15:06.755-04:00

You might've noticed that it was 99 degrees and humid earlier this week in Boston. What's that you say, every other blogger on the facetwitter already mentioned this? Good, because that's not what I'm thinking about, anyway. So the other night I stayed at work until 11, because hey, air conditioned internet is only at one place in my life, and it's not at home! And then I rolled out into the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-16153097001041727512010-07-01T08:28:00.001-04:002010-07-01T10:23:19.675-04:00

Up until about 8 days before this race, I had no plans of going to Wisconsin for the Subaru Cup, because air travel is expensive and I'm a Cat 1, so I can get pretty much the same race experience out there that I do here. I figured I would let Linnea go out by herself to do the pro thing and I would sit at home and count my money. Sometime around the Pinnacle, though, I started to notice that I

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-70706911606660366102010-06-29T15:03:00.002-04:002010-07-01T07:35:35.489-04:00

For some crazy reason WORS decided to combine the Pro and Cat 1 Super D fields, and it wasn't a shortage of participants -- I think we had 45 guys waiting on top of the hill to go down, split into four heats. Thanks to some careful timing with the signup sheet I got into Adam Craig's heat and started praying for the best descending race of my life. By the time we actually got to the start

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-75925431518287683492010-06-21T22:12:00.003-04:002010-06-22T08:39:31.864-04:00

I just realized that I'm up to 7 straight race weekends. Now that I'm over my road racing fear it's even harder to come up with a reason not to race bikes on any given weekend. I might pay lip service to "not burning out before cross," or "doing something productive," or even "riding with friends" but next thing I know I'm on bikereg, blowing cash and committing to getting up way too early. I

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-79249785274365923392010-06-14T22:15:00.008-04:002010-06-14T23:49:51.462-04:00

Warning: this is long, because the Pinnacle makes me chatty.A long, long time ago I was a lost soul in Florida, carrying out a failed experiment in the video game industry. After 12 of the worst longest most character-building months of my life, I moved back to the Northeast and decided to try mountain bike racing again. The extent of my experience was a few season in the booming "Junior

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-34990342089028490332010-06-06T17:11:00.003-04:002010-06-06T18:24:51.002-04:00

As my basement had a mere 13 frames in it this week, I decided it was time to acquire more. My primary motivation for getting a road bike was the disturbing realization that my cross bike with TRP's absolutely cannot stop in the rain, and I'm also inexplicably slow relative to my wattage on the road. Was buying a Spooky Skeletor the most cost-efficient solution to these two problems? Probably

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-23642665557295179032010-06-04T15:01:00.000-04:002010-06-04T15:02:06.540-04:00

Once I year I like to do a weeknight TT, just to remind myself that I do suck at certain aspects of competitive cycling. Last year I did the Dover TT and promptly blew my knee up while getting beat by a 15-year old. This year I decided my annual appearance would be at Charlie Baker, so even more people could see my pitiful result.The real motivator behind this all was finally getting my

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-72026311120786850962010-06-01T20:02:00.002-04:002010-06-01T20:41:37.781-04:00

After two weeks of kicking ass and taking names (at least by my standards), I was starting to think that I was actually kind of a big deal at this mountain biking thing. After all, I was leading the EFTA Elite Series for purely attendance-based reasons -- if that's not the big time, I don't know what is.It should be noted that my previous successes have come on courses with minimal elevation

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-47905794057283892812010-05-24T21:46:00.004-04:002010-05-26T08:02:24.536-04:00

You know what? I should just rename this the "Racing Bikes with Kevin Sweeney" blog and be done with it. That's all I do here any more, I just put a number on and ride laps with K-Sweet. You would think we were teammates from the way we seem to end up riding a time trial together each week -- but of course, we'd have to have an actual team for that to be true. So I guess that just makes him

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-33420702077309156842010-05-16T22:20:00.006-04:002010-05-20T11:24:18.966-04:00

I can't remember why I've never raced the Glocester Grind before -- it's a short drive, to a flat and technical course... so whatever I was doing for the last 3 seasons better have been good, because this is a great race.You can tell this is a good race because I'm humping my bike over a giant rockWell, it's a great race, except for the bathroom situation, which almost made me miss the start.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-40946055268127982172010-05-10T16:52:00.002-04:002010-05-11T09:59:52.060-04:00

This weekend provided a rare springtime chance to fire up the ol' "it's all good if you don't suck on Sunday" maxim, so I jumped at the chance to race the Orchard Assault out in Amherst Sunday, instead of dwelling on the fact that I lasted all of six miles at Sterling the day before.The Orchard Assault is a small event in every sense of the word -- small venue, small course, small fields, and

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-2697018172828633952010-05-08T12:50:00.003-04:002010-05-08T19:49:00.069-04:00

Alright, I'm gonna change things up and go with the insta-report. This one finished just over two hours ago. As you might've noticed from the lack of vacation reporting, the whole "wait a long time before you blog" thing doesn't work. Shocking, I know.So the Sterling Cat 4 field was full, but for some dumb reason I really wanted to do the race. Thus, when the forecast started calling for rain

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-74198006156635263722010-05-04T23:28:00.005-04:002010-05-04T23:35:04.805-04:00

We came to a super-tight downhill switchback. We all stopped. We pondered. I said, "I can totally ride this. Get the camera."

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-79489389847054962922010-04-23T00:19:00.006-04:002010-04-23T23:46:08.162-04:00

Oops! I did a race in California, and then segued it into a full-fledged vacation and totally forgot to write about it! I've been hanging out in San Jose and riding for a week now. Meanwhile, my websites went down (internet! noooo!) and I am too busy pedaling, eating and sleeping to fix it.Since Linnea got her PRO license we had to go to Sea Otter this year, because that's where PROs go in

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-37415214920554316932010-04-11T21:06:00.003-04:002010-04-11T22:51:02.342-04:00

Dudes! MTB race season is back! It's April, so everybody is absurdly pumped to race the same old Hopbrook course! Time to prove, yet again, that me riding fast in a 30 minute TT doesn't mean I will ride fast in a 2 hour mass start!This time around, the race conflicted with Battenkill, so it didn't draw 400+ racers, and everyone couldn't start asking, "omg, is mountain biking BACK!?" (No.

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-27606228480897148842010-04-06T21:25:00.004-04:002010-04-06T22:49:56.940-04:00

It turns out that training crits are really fun. It's been long since established that I don't like doing intervals, and I pretty much only hurt with a number on. I've tried to use road racing to satisfy my number-wearing-training needs before, but I usually end up being bored for most of the event. I'm not strong enough to attack with any success and I'm not weak enough to be anywhere near in

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-23794605207245780042010-03-29T22:46:00.004-04:002010-03-30T09:46:10.854-04:00

Ah, late March, that beautiful time of year when it's 40, rained all week, and getting up at 5:45 to drive almost 2 hours each way to do a 30 minute race seems like great idea.I love the King of Burlingame TT, but I can never tell if I love it only because it's the first race of the year and it's only 30 minutes long. You know what you don't need base miles for? 30 minute TTs. You know what I

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-33802349868131472010-03-22T22:55:00.007-04:002010-03-26T20:46:54.148-04:00

Hey Internet! Remember me? That guy that used to blog about races?No?Well anyway, a rainy March, combined with the insecurity caused by every single cyclist I know bragging about how much they were riding, led to me pulling the plug on the nordic season a bit early this year, which was hell on the blog. Usually I get to smugly race all through March, while everyone else whines about how bad

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-87048216067542278092010-03-09T14:42:00.002-05:002010-03-09T14:46:59.884-05:00

After a few dry runs at Weston, I ended up gluing a cheap fisheye lens to my Flip Mino to drastically widen the field of view. This helped make the image a lot stabler, albeit at the cost of some blurriness around the edges. That's what you get when you buy $20 lenses, I guess. Big thanks to Dave Chiu for the idea.I eventually got about 45 minutes of video from the race, but since long

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-5874335098848691072010-03-03T08:55:00.001-05:002010-03-03T20:36:19.091-05:00

Being an insufferable racerhead has some benefits. Let's say you skied terribly on Saturday, and almost decided to bag the rest of the ski season, and not race a bike until April 10th. That would be a rough 6 weeks, wouldn't it, with "I skied the worst race of my life in the biggest race of the country" as a sendoff to your 2010 nordic season?But wait! Why not take one more shot at ski racing,

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-10991628415579655962010-03-01T19:58:00.003-05:002010-03-01T21:39:19.281-05:00

I've been squawking about the Birkie for the last two months here. It's the biggest ski race in North America and the automatic focal point on my season, since it's the only ski race I'm paying $600 (airfare,lodging,entry) to do. After all the anticipation, did it live up to the hype? Let's find out!Unless you're a big-time skier, skilled sweet-talker, or someone who did a qualifying race,

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-25260813980198209762010-02-24T21:22:00.004-05:002010-02-24T23:35:25.069-05:00

After getting beat down on at the Eastern Cup on Saturday I headed north, back to the safe confines of citizen's racing for the Flying Moose up in Bethel. With an Eastern Cup being run at Holderness that day, it was a good chance to try to reassemble some ski-esteem with the Birkie looming.Due to low snow (although a lot more snow than Holderness, I heard) the race was run exclusively on the

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-69503599463298505492010-02-22T21:27:00.002-05:002010-02-22T21:47:50.603-05:00

It's been 3 years since I last did an Eastern Cup. There's a reason for this. Eastern Cups are basically the UCI race of nordic skiing, minus the B field that might allow one to salvage their self-esteem or even have a little fun. Nope, an Eastern Cup is basically an experts-only race, made even more aggravating by the fact that most of the "experts" are high school boys.So that's why I'd been

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-29988500132096165912010-02-19T17:39:00.003-05:002010-02-23T09:48:22.646-05:00

Man, I am so out of Tuesday night blog titles.This week's Tuesday night race at Weston was especially exciting because it's the "vacation week race," where everyone with kids doesn't show up, because they're stuck at the police station after chaining their kids to a stake in the yard, because they were bouncing off the walls for the last four days.Also adding some excitement to the mix was the "

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-87342384188500388532010-02-14T20:52:00.005-05:002010-02-15T21:04:26.571-05:00

It's been 13 months since my last interval start ski race, so I was inexplicably pumped for a 10k skate race up at Pineland. "Man, I can't wait to ski alone for half an hour! Just me and my pain, out in the woods for a ski, interrupted only by the occasional terrified glance backward to see if anyone is catching us." It's gonna be great!With the Birkie looming in 14 days there was no way that

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-15446711967547375572010-02-10T21:03:00.003-05:002010-02-10T22:18:58.578-05:00

I think the best thing about the winter season is that even when I get sick and take a weekend off, I can always hit up the ol' Tuesday Night smackdown at Weston and get in something blogworthy. Before we get to the "action" (spoiler alert: there was drafting), I want to call your attention to a new race on the New England calendar.Last year my dad and I were kicking around the idea of trying

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-66693009575392725522010-02-04T09:30:00.004-05:002010-02-04T21:58:29.310-05:00

I realized the other day that I had virtually the exact same January 2010 as January 2009. Same races, same training, same results. I think I'm turning into solobreak. And now it's February 2010, and I have the same head cold that I had for the first week of February 2009. Creepy.Of course, I did do one thing differently in January, I finally hardened up and did a 50k before March. Sentences

Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com6