That sure is a big log-barrier....crack....ouch....

While KK might have had the most awesome wipe-out over the log barrier at Halloween Cross yesterday, I may have done the most damage to myself. I think around the 5th lap I landed a bit sideways and heard a loud pop from my right calf. I was sitting in 3rd place at at the moment and really didn't want to have heard that... I was worried I'd broken my leg or something but could feel no strong pain so I thought either I was totally ok or totally in shock. I slowed down a bit to see what had happened and, although I did feel something strange, I decided to keep going, eventually holding out against a storming Chris H. for 5th place. It is now apparent that I have a pulled or strained muscle on the side of my lower leg, probably the Soleus, Peroneus Longus, Flexor Hallucis Longus, peronius srevis. Ok- so I don't know a thing about muscles. At any rate- that may be the end of cross season for me- hopefully it's not a terribly bad injury. I've never done that before and don't have much of a frame of reference. That said, it ended on a fantastic note- the race was fantastic, put on by our friends at Red River Racing, and they did a fantastic job even after overcoming a venue change and make a totally awesome course. Lots of fun costumes as well! Very memorable.

Southern Cross Random Pix

photos HERE. What a great race! FANTASTIC course- great job Abes!

Very Excited!!!

Thor de France

Inspiring

Here are some inspiring photos of the great folks I had the priviledge of racing with this past weekend at Grand Beach 2.0. They didn't just race, They did it with STYLE!






Here is me avoiding the opportunity for awesomeness that Wayne and Paul (above) took and DESTROYED!



Fantastic Photography courtesy of Dave Benson.

Happy B-day!

Race next weekend!!

Details Here!

I like tenting... but this is ridiculous!!

Photos and post on: http://neighborhoodofgod.blogspot.com/

TTT Crash!!

First road race for me, Lyle, and Mark. First lap was a good learning experience, second lap... well... ended like this at 40km/h:

Photo by Mark Reimer

Hell-hounds Abide on Greenway Trail

Did I miss something? Or was I just unaware that the Greenway trail is an off-leash area? Well... dog owners... it's NOT. I have no issue with dogs per se. I like dogs for the most part... except when massive hell hounds like this one attempt to dismember me as I pass by on my bike! I very nearly had my right leg turned into hamburger when I had the sense of mind to use my new-found cyclocross skills to dismount on the opposite side of the bike, pick up the bike and prepare to fight for dear life. This product of toxic waste and fur charged me no less than five times and was uncontainable by it's bewildered owner. After informing the owner in louder-than-inside-voice language that if the dog actually bit me i would be responsible for sending it back to whence it came, i attempted to leave the scene by crossing the road through traffic. Just about to the other side, i realized that the drooling devil was still intent on pinning me down and was charging me again strait through the moving cars! This time I hopped on my bike and easily outran the tyrade, reaching 50km/h pretty quickly.

At least I escaped unscathed- but seriously, dog owners, keep your f@##$$#ing dog on a leash around Winnipeg's walking and cycling paths.

Falcon Lake Course 2011

Thanks Dylan and Paul!!

FGBC Spring Ride

It was, as expected, an epic weekend! We rode at falcon trails on Friday followed by a steak night. Saturday was the trek out to Eagle's head from Ingolf- absolutely fantastic riding! The ride was followed by the dog-fest complete with Juan's disco-fried potato chips and fireside shinannigans. Already counting the days till next year's ride!

Wednesday Night Blood

Good luck to all you Wednesday Night Racers!!

Brandon Hills Cup#1 Report

After a rainy ride out with Brad and G., we crossed the water-inundated Assiniboine river behind a pace car. Construction crews were building huge aqua-dikes on both sides of the road. Apparently Wal-mart and the Corel center may just be overtaken by the river! By noon the main river crossing in Brandon was closed too- forcing us to return to Winnipeg via the Patricia avenue bridge on the east end of town.

We arrived quite late and had to hurry to register and get ourselves ready including a short warm-up. It was G's first time in the Brandon hills. It is definitely nice to get back on the MTB! The day turned out to be a beautiful 18 degrees with no rain. the course was pretty much in perfect condition. It included the regular kilometer-long double track climb to start things off then into single track for most of the rest of the lap.

The course was very well marked and the organizers (A&L cycle) did a fantastic job on the day- especially considering they had never hosted a MTB race before. I heard there were 70 registered riders making the day a real success. Thanks also to Greg Sherwin for making some killer new trails and helping with course design. It was a great atmosphere and everyone seemed very happy to see each other again as well as be back on the trails. They even had a guy maintaining the two wooden bridges on the first climb to make sure that the entrances and exits to the bridges stayed smooth and rut-free. Totally over the call of duty! Also a big thanks to Sean Zayak for taking on the commissaire's role all by himself... you ROCK.

As for my race, I felt pretty good and was generally happy with my riding, despite receiving a general spanking from Chris Pendergrast and Jeremy Trask (SASK). I rolled off the start line in 3rd place for 15 experts. I had just wanted to stick to the front group for entry into the single track. Toward the top of the climb it seemed that the two leaders wanted to really put it on and I decided to ride my own race with hopes that their initial output would cause them to burn out and fall back. This was not the case obviously! I ended up riding by myself for the whole race by myself which is not as fun, but the riding more than made up for that. Lots of super flowey single track descents winding through the trees... did I mention trees? Being a taller rider I had to be on the constant lookout for head-aiming trunks and branches. I luckily reserved contact with the trees for my handlebars which were more than happy to oblige!

Good friends, and good riding. It was nice to see Leon from Kola out as well!

Next up: Grand Beach!

1st day of soccer!

Daddy is Proud!

Ma(r)y is ccccoold...

Yep. Two days ago it was a balmy 23 degrees and sunny. The wind was gentle and from the south. Six laps of Burr Oak followed by a windows-down drive to Juniors with the kids for some grease was the perfect start to spring. I was feeling pretty good about April.

Jinx.

Enter the month of May, which apparently follows it's own rules. It's like being stuck in the gate, steed at the ready.

BHP ride 3pm tomorrow

anyone interested?

Bruxelles Race Report

It was cold. It was wet. It was hard. It was fun. It was classic.

a new home for mary

Summer "Approaches"!!!

More of that darned white stuff. OK, fess up. WHO ORDERED THIS?



If it was me, I appologize... I've been trying to think of what I might have done to jinx the weather.

1. Put slicks on my cross bike.
2. Got my Niner ready to rock the trails.
3. Said "this is nice weather finally!"
4. Put away the winter-option clothing.
5. Decided to head out to BHP to see if all the snow is gone.
6. Decided NOT to bike to work today??
7. Put Parmesan on my pizza.
8. Bought my MCA License and registered for Bruxelles.

OK... I'm digging...

See y'alls on the WET gravel on sunday!

Bikes, Beer, ..... Beards?!

Aerodynamics

Yep. New "h20 based cowling" on the wind-facing tubing of my Trek Soho is definitely decreasing the wind drag. LIKE A FREAKING ROCKET.