Suson Bubba - quick recap

Notice the different bikes in the above pictures??? (Thanks to Mike D. for the pics)

Don't ever race a new bike in a race. Lesson learned. First lap, don't know if someone ran into my rear derailleur on the start or the bike decided to begin mis-shifting all of a sudden, but within 100' of the starting line my bike wouldn't stay in any gear. As a result, I was off the back and almost a half-lap down by the end of the first lap. Luckily, I did have a spare bike in the pits and jumped on it and began my chase. I was able to chase down 13 racers by the end of the race, which I consider a personal victory.

The fans on the hillside were a tremendous boost for me, too. El Cavano, Slick Willy, and of course Team Seagal. My favorite chant of the day...."Welcome to Hell!"

Bubb-a-Rama

What a weekend of racing, spectating, and partying. Mike and the Big Shark boys along with Jay Strothman, Anthony Dust and others totally outdid themselves with the courses and creating the foundation for the atmosphere. Also props go out to my racing bud, Ralph Pfremmer for his continued pfood sponsorship for the series.

Saturday night, I got all decked out in a full Santa Claus suit and made myself fat again (this time not with all-you-can-eat buffets), but with 2 pillows stuffed into an older pair of bibs.


It was actually a perfect get up considering it was in the 20's when the race started and I decided since I was goofing around, I jumped into the C race, so as to not mess up that many serious racers. I started with a reverse hole shot and waved to the crowd as we tore it up the paved start. I think I passed 20-25 racers throughout the evening while working hard to not work that hard. Each time I crossed the start finish line I would work the fans into a little pre-Christmas frenzy!



Aaro Froese looking quite the playa in the leopard print robe was a big help on the PA announcing me several times. The only real problem I had was that I couldn't see my feet or the bike on the remounts thanks to the pillows. However, since I really wasn't racing hard, it wasn't too much of an issue. In the end, I brought it home to 42nd place. Afterwards, I hooked up with the Team Seagal gang for a rowdy evening of cheering, jeering, and beering. Fun times. Casey Ryback was looking splendid as ever....



Sunday meant some serious racing and I had a 2nd row starting position (why I'm not sure) and promptly turned it into something towards midpack as the race unfurled in a fairly brisk tempo. I grabbed a small chase group and yo-yo'd with them for a good part of the race.



However, in the end they lit it up and dropped me when I really wasn't paying much attention. As many of you know, it's much easier to keep a wheel than it is to bridge back up to a lost wheel. I need to get that through my thick head, quickly. Ralph and I had our early battle, but he had gone out a little too hard too soon and while he was trying to recover, I bolted around him and kept increasing the gap. He's fun to race with and I really look forward to our races. However, today my race became a race of trying to stay ahead of Craig Farrell. Craig is uber strong and usually starts slower and winds it up as the race goes on. He's that rider you keep seeing out of the corner of your eye and before too long, bang. He's passed you and put a sizeable gap on you within the blink of an eye. Today I was able to hold him off even though my bike started misshifting again on the last lap. He certainly pushed me to my limit. In the end, I think I eaked out a 23rd place finish and while I could have pushed a little harder for a top 20 finish, I'm happy with how I ran the race.

Next weekend, is my 'home' course in Queeny Park. I say 'home' because it's directly across the street from my house and I look forward to racing there. I can't say that I'll have a great result because of that, but looking forward to it nevertheless.

Bubba Faust (The Pictorial)

The Race is on.

Now, I know why BillH reels me in so easily. His legs are gigantic!!

Craig Farrell and Pfoodman in hot pursuit.

Mouth wide open...can't get enough air!!!

This is beginning to be a very common scene this year. Howells reeling me in and dropping me.

It was so bad I was getting jeered at by a street woman! (She was very ugly by the way.)

I was wondering why the crowd was yelling "go get him Craig!" because there wasn't anyone in front of me. Then I realized they weren't cheering for me.

Gassed across the line. Note the wide open mouth gasping for air.

Scott Mortimer looking fresh as a daisy after the race while Ralph teaches him proper technique for doing a bench press. Bob Crow and I are waiting to cough up a lung.

The podium girls for my race.

Special thanks to my good buddy and brother in Christ, Tom Heinze, for coming out to cheer me on and take the photos. Nice work!!

Who's Side You On?

For me, the answer to this question is a simple one. Always has been. I'm on God's side.

God has always been a part of my life. Notice I say "part". Why do I say "part" and not "whole." I'm a sinner. I'll always be a sinner. Sin is what works to separate me from God. Sin wants me in a full-time relationship. But so does God. Guess what? In the end God wins. Sin loses. Therefore, the choice to me is a simple one. I don't need to question it and I don't desire scientific proof (even though I love scientific studies.) Faith. Pure and simple. I pray and work hard each day to make God more than a part of my life. Faith is what I can control.

Consider this, Romans 3:23-24 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." It's simple for me. During the race this past Sunday, I put this verse on my bike and read it several times during the race. The verse was Psalm 119:50 "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life." God promises us an eternal life in heaven by accepting his son, Jesus Christ, as our personal savior.

Who's side you on?

Finally, Real CX Weather

Yesterday's temperatures were ideal for a cx race. Cold, windy, overcast. A raw Belgian day if there ever was. Possibly the only thing missing was some form of precipitation, but I suspect there's plenty of time for that. Seeing as the weather was below 40 degrees, many were faced with the dilemma of shorts, knickers, or tights. Not being a fan of the two latter choices, I opted for the "Belgian Knee Warmers" option and used embrocation. My choices for the day were a double layer of:


Qoleum #3


Mad Alchemy

The Qoleum #3 is the hottest of the trio of embrocations produced by Qoleum. The consistency is somewhat similar to mayo (don't know what it would taste like with frites, though) and it goes on in a sticky fashion. You really have to work it into your skin, but when it's on, it's on. You feel it begin to work almost immediately. When you're not moving around and creating wind chill on the bike, your legs will feel prickly and hot. In other words, you'll know it's working.

The Mad Alchemy medium on the other hand is a easily spread ointment of sorts quite similar to the consistency of butter. Goes on smooth and works into the skin nicely. The added benefit of the Mad Alchemy is the fact that it has a reddish copper coloring to it (all natural by the way) and it gives a nice PRO sheen to your legs. As was reported on Belgium Knee Warmers the natural color of this stuff "would convert George Hamilton to cycling." They are right, this stuff is PRO all the way!

I guess it worked for me, I had my best finish of the year, a 17th place, and my legs were perfectly warm and rockin' throughout the race. Heck, even after my shower this stuff was still keeping my legs warm throughout the evening.

Another Year in the Books

Turned 44 yesterday. Spent the entire day with my wife and kids at the Mizzou game. Eventhough it was the coldest day of the fall season, it was great being together and having no pressing bike race, soccer game, or school-driven commitments. Forty-four is also an odd birthday. From a racing perspective I'm not on the cusp of being able to race 45+, which is good. But otherwise, no real feelings or frames of reference.

Although I did get one frame of reference today (and unfortunately it's one that is too often getting repeated). The checker at Schnuck's was prompted for my birthday when he rang up my beer purchase. I responded that it was actually today. He smiled and too cheerfully said, "yeah, I just turned 19 this week!" I smiled, shook my head and replied, "well, I could be your father!" This is getting more and more prevolent for me. Just at work the other day, I was talking with some younger associates about college and when I started. That prompted one young lady to respond, "wow, I was only 1 then."

All I can say is that I'm in better shape (and weigh less) than I was when I graduated college. How many of them can say that? Although it's just another year in the books, it's been another great year and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Flying Blind

Yesterday morning, a handful of us played hooky or took the day off and rolled out of Greensfelder at 7:30am. If you recall yesterday morning, the temps were in the low 40's and the wind was brisk. Fearing not the troops (Pierce, Grothoff, Melies, Struckman, Peiffer, and I) staged at the Muckerman Shelter for a few hours of singletrack bliss. I took the lead and led the gang on the race loop. Little did we know the leaves were completely covering the trails making our navigation something more akin to heading off for a ride through the woods. Funny how the absence of a sight line really throws off your desire to bomb an otherwise fast trail. Furthermore, when the singletrack would appear the leaves made for minimal tread bite and therefore, sketchy lines.

Most of the ride was without injury or mishap, although Matt G did take an ejection seat ride at the expense of a leaf covered rock outcropping. No harm, though. JP fell at the hands of a root that was hiding rather sinisterly in the corner just below the shelter. He was riding at a good clip directly in front of me when his pedal caught and he shot skyward. Unfortunately, so did his bike and let's just say his saddle found it's home in a rather forceful manner. Again, he was fine, but the nose of the saddle looked a little down.

Most of us ran our s/s bikes and JP was a good sport to stick to similar gearing for most of the ride. Climbing was a little tougher due to leaf-induced lack of traction, but who's complaining when you're not working.

Great Deal My Butt!

October 10th of last year our old dishwasher shot craps. I trudged out to Lowes in search of a replacement. Much to my delight they had a KitchenAid unit that originally sold for $1200 on closeout for $739. This was a beautiful stainless steel unit that had every bell and whistle and the only reason it was deeply discounted was because it was a display model and the store was in the process of updating the old models with the new one. Everything was included (manuals, hook-ups, etc) and it carried a full warranty.

The unit sucked. It never cleaned well and my wife complained the entire time we owned it. To top it all off, I just discovered it's been leaking from under the motor for most likely the last week or so. I pulled the unit out tonight and it's sitting in the garage awaiting the trash pick-up. The 1 year parts and labor warranty ran out 20 days ago and now we're left with the parts are covered but not the labor. I don't have the time or inclination to put up with the pains of calling, scheduling service, and dealing with what's going to go wrong next with this lemon. I'm chalking it up to I should have known better. Tomorrow, I'll pick up a new unit and then I'll be installing it or I'll be doing the dishes like I did tonight. Trust me, if it's too good to be true...it is.

Faust Park quick update

Felt better on the bike at Bubba 3, albeit that doesn't mean there wasn't any suffering. Towards the end of the race, my lower back was hurting but I have to say my legs actually felt good. I had some power and I think the worm is starting to turn. I'm going to keep hammering this upcoming week and building more strength. I'm also going to tweak my bike set-up a little more. Based on my cursory glance at the results, looks like I finished around 33 out of 51, so I'm moving up (or should I say I'm moving farther away from the back of the pack.)

More later and hopefully some good pics. I had a friend out there watching and he was snapping a lot of pics, so I'll post them up later along with a preview of the new cross ride.

Just Keep on Building

Friday afternoon I decided to again hit the 'wood before the Halloween frenzy began. It was an awesome day weather wise and I worked my butt off in hopes that I would be able to steal some time to get in another ride before dark. Luck was on my side and I was able to get out around 2:00pm. I arrived at the park and was ready to roll by 2:30. The only bad thing was that I didn't have any short sleeve jerseys in the car, so I rolled the l/s team jersey. Not too warm, but definitely not my first choice for the indian summer day.

I warmed up with 2 laps on the dirt crit loop and then headed for Justin's trail. My new goal (and no this wasn't a result of my exploding rear derailleur) is to climb as much as I can in nothing lower than the middle ring. I've never really been a fan of the granny gear, as it just seems as though you can climb anything as long as you're willing to plod along at a snail's pace. My bike choice of the day was my fully rigid Mamasita that currently tips the scales at 22.5 pounds. This bike was originally built up as such for the dirt crits, but I've got to tell you, this has become my go to bike. It climbs like a mountain goat on EPO and descends fairly well thanks to the carbon Origin 8 Black Ops fork.

From Justin's trail, I crossed over to the Rollercoast and enjoyed one of the sweetest trails in the area. To me that trail is just fun. Keep your head up and your eyes down the trail and you can really rail. I'm really not the best at carving a trail with pace and little braking. For me, the ultimate test for that sort of riding are the trails at SIUE. However, the Rollercoaster is the next best one to practice on if you want to learn to stay off the brakes and pin it.

I hooked up with Cody for the bike shop and we tackled the back part of the park. The washout (scene of the drivetrain mishap) is really getting bad. You can ride the entire section when coming from the back to the front, but on the way out you'd need some trials skills to clear the steep, uphill step over the tree root. Cody and I took turns of leading and carving the trail. On one particular section I refer to as "Misery" you're forced to make a choice to dive between two trees just barely wider than your handlebars or take the sissy route and shortcut the corner. I was leading and came into the corner really hot and had to dive to the outside of the corner and Cody took the opportunity to put a wheel underneath me and take the lead. We weren't racing per se, but certainly had fun riding at tempo and testing each other's handling limits. All in all a great 90 minute workout and that marks the longest training week I've had in the last several months. I was able to get on the bike 5 times in the past week and that certainly should start to help me a little in the cross races.