Until the Snow Ends

After the morning's shenanigans it was time to attempt to refuel and race some short track. I've gushed before about how intense/awesome the Mt Snow Short Track course is, but it should be noted that I had never raced it, which is probably why it seemed so cool. Anyway, it's completely non-technical, big ring all the way, with one loose climb that you can just get over by standing and flailing. Well, the first five times up it's easy, then you start to flail more, then you try the middle ring once and notice that you went way slower but still hurt equally, and then you go back to suffering in the big ring until the race ends. We had a field of 20 or so Semi-pro/Experts and it went out hot . My first lap was 1:30 and that was at the back of the main group. The only people behind me were the two women and a guy who had dropped his chain. But, since I was in contact and we were hauling, I could get my draft on. I clung to Ben C and the same Bliss junior that I race...

The first stage of the four-race-weekend saga was the Super D. I've never done a Super D but I do like going downhill, so hey, why not? I have four inches of travel in the front and 2.3 in the back, that's pretty good, right? Maybe if you're Greg Carpenter. Thirty minutes before the start, I was up top with fellow IBC'er and 6-inch travel biker George for a Super D practice run. Ten seconds into the run my seat was in my stomach and I was reminded that nothing at Mount Snow is easy. A minute later George flatted and now it's panic time. He headed back to the top, I headed for the bottom to grab him a tube and CO2. Gotta hurry to get back up in time for him to change it... Of course five minutes later I crush a rock I never even saw in the high grass they call a trail and now I have a flat too. I ran all-out to the bottom of the hill (ow), got Thom to change the tube and put a little air in, wasted a ton of time trying to find George's tube before just ...

I am way too defeated right now for a proper race report. The short story is, I did four races in two days an all but one of them were total failures. Here is the tale of the Garmin for now, I will write about my numerous calamities later. Super D Short Track XC

I know there's some nordies still reading this, and I'm sure many of you enjoy opportunities to read/pick apart my best attempts at prose. So, you might be interested in an article I wrote on ski throwing over on nordic commentary project . In other boring commuter news, anyone remember that crazy thunderstorm that came through Boston around 5:30 yesterday? Yeah, I was trying to ride home in that. I was not successful. It was a cool experience, since I didn't get electrocuted. It wasn't even raining in Inman Square at 5:30, but when I looked up Hampshire Street toward Somerville I was like, "hmm, I can't really see the buildings down the street so well through that fog." Then I noticed the "fog" was coming towards me at 25 mph, and was actually a wall of rain. I couldn't find an overhang in time so I ducked behind the downwind side of a building. For the first few minutes, it was raining sideways so hard that I fared much better than t...

Sunday found me at the end of a predictably unsuccessful rest week, having just gotten my legs eaten for lunch by Matt M on a 2-hour MTB beatdown Saturday. Yes, you read that right, a guy who rides his mountain bike once a month (at best) thrashed me all over the woods behind his house. Despite my claim that I didn't want the ride too go "too fast" I managed to put in over half an hour above 170 bpm... for reference, my max at Putney was 183. But it's all good because that was just an "opener," yeah, that's it. More importantly, after 2 hours of fighting my hardtail around singletrack at near race pace I realized that my current style is just incompatible with that bike. It's fun to ride, but when I get some lactic a-flowin' I start to lose my ability to bike handle with it, I ride poorly and get more tired because of it. So the hardtail is officially off the bikes-I-race list, and I switched over to the Scalpel for Sunday's race. We ...

Hey blogosphere, am I the first person to embed video of Frank Schleck eating it big time at the Tour de Suisse? Am I? Another tragedy that could've been avoided but for the UCI ban on disc brakes.

Alright, so usually when I say I have a protip for you it's something stupid. It's often barely a tip and certainly not pro. But this time it's different, ladies and gentlemen. This tip is wicked pro . Ok, so it's summer in Boston. You're commuting to work, you finish your ride and think, damn, I'm wicked haaaaht, I can't roll to my cubicle like this. Some people solve this problem with a shower, but I bet most of you lazy-asses solve it with the ubiquitous Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee . Since 50% of Boston businesses are Dunkin Donuts shops, you're never more than a few steps away from that iced goodness. You drop your $2.50, get your drink, start guzzling and head to work. The problem is, it's cold . It's refreshing . And it's chock full of ice . You take a few, nice, deep swigs, and then it's kicked. If you're like me, you're already making that empty-drink-gurgle with your start before you even sit down to work. And to...