the minivan

For the past 5 years my car of choice (I mean lack of choice) has been a Pontiac minivan. Mostly reserved for soccer moms, this vehicle is extremely under-appreciated. It has helped me move halfway across the country 8 times, 4 years of school in VA, there and back each time. It was the vehicle of choice for college road trips up and down the east-coast, James' van was the selection these times. It has been to countless cycling races over the past 2 years, and housed many different bikes. By removing the back bench I can easily fit 4 bicycles and equipment, all inside the vehicle, thus eliminating the need to leave the bikes outside on the rack or lugging them in and out every time you reach a hotel or house. It was there when I got my first ticket, and second. It is dinged and scratched from the many saddles leaning against it.

Unfortunately, it has also given me some problems, stranding me on the sides of highways watching steam pour from under the hood (sorry guys). Stalling and refusing to start when it was time to drive home from Virginia. But as with any piece of equipment, it will only treat you as well as you treat it, and in the past I haven't been very nice to it. I now realize the unlimited possibilities to this moving machine and am back on course with taking proper care of it. Hopefully it can continue to treat me well for years to come, who knows how many more?

winter training rides

This past week was some good training, especially since I have been adjusting to dealing with crazy weather and staying sane training inside.  Training for running was easier (logistically at least) since there was minimal equipment to train properly no matter where I was.  Lately I have been in the car a lot on the weekends, spending time with my family, Kim, or going to cyclocross races (now that is over with).  I haven't been spending too much time at my new home in Joliet on the weekends, but it's great during the week.  Which, by the way, the house is working out wonderful with a nice space to train in the basement, I'll have to include some pictures later of my set up, it's sweet.  Cycling is different, since obviously you need the bike, trainer (if riding inside), tools (if i can't fix it, I can't ride), a lot more clothes, helmet shoes etc...  So on the weekends my van is usually packed with stuff, I don't know what I would do without it (more on the many benefits of my minivan later).

So here is some exciting news.  It was finally a bit warmer this past weekend to ride outside, but even better, I had training partners, and even better, one of them was fellow Illinoisan Christian Vandevelde.  Last week at the VQ holiday party he was a guest speaker and I introduced myself before the night was up.  Myself and a couple more of his friends/acquaintances met at his house in Lemont on Saturday morning for a chilly 3.5hr ride around the Lemont/Joliet Area.  It felt good to get outside again and to finally get in a longer ride.  I think the last time I rode outside on my road bike was the Crit at Univest.  I'm not gonna lie, I was so used to the cyclocross bike that the road bike felt weird the first few minutes.  After we got out onto the open rodes the wind picked up and it got colder, but overall it was a great ride.  (We even threw in a bit of a leg opener, led out by CV, which felt great).

Hopefully the weather on coming weekends will be good enough to do the ride a few more times.  Hours go by so much faster with people to talk to, it was nice.

what a weekend

Quick recap…

Nov 23^rd. Woodstock Cross race. I got cocky again and raced with the 1-2s. I failed miserably, again. This was my pain face the whole race.

Nov 26^th. I partied like I was turning 23

Thanksgiving I ate a lot of good food.

Nov 29 weekend. No racing just training outside in the frigidness.

This past weekend December 6-7…

Saturday I went down to ISU to watch Kim run the 800 in her first indoor meet of the season. She ran away from the competition (pun), winning her race and looking good doing it. I also played in the snow on 2 wheels before Kim’s race to get ready for tomorrow, it was fun. That night we drove north to go to the annual VQ holiday dinner at the brand new Highland park facility. It was a very impressive training center/bike shop. It was also a mini-museum with many signed jerseys from Lance (one of the few places that actually was 7 signed yellow jerseys from each year). There was also numerous bikes on display that had been ridden in the tour by various Postal Service/Discovery riders. The food was great and the entertainment was a lot of fun. My dad won a raffle prize of a personalized voicemail message and bike ride with the one and only BOB ROLL! Ha I can’t wait for that, I am definitely going to tag along. Christian Vandevelde was there, as well as other Olympians, some from the para-olympics. Hearing their stories was very neat.

Sunday was the Illinois state Cyclocross Championships at Montrose Harbor in lovely downtown Chicago (practically on the beach of lake Michigan.) It was 15 degrees and the ground was covered with snow. If any race does not suit me, this is it. But I went into it knowing I was going to lay it all on the line, or hurt myself trying (hell, if I fall it’s just in snow). I got off to a great start, taking the hole shot and carrying the lead through most of lap one. I let a few people pass me and hung tough in 3^rd place for most of the race. The hard part came when we started lapping a lot of the field and I kept having to pass people at really bad times. I fell once early on and lost a place or two but quickly gained it back. I got a break when the 2^nd place rider got a mechanical and I moved into 2nd with about 4 to go. With about 3 to go I fell bad on a steep downhill and hit the pavement pretty hard. I regained my composure, but my gap from 3^rd place was almost gone. The last lap I was too timid and the 3^rd place rider caught me taking a corner to slow. I stayed on his wheel in hopes of outsprinting him but there was no traction for my back wheel in the ice/snow combination. I would have to settle for 3^rd place, but overall I am still very happy with my result. It always stings a bit when you know you were so close to a better result, but I got over it.

It was a long and exhausting weekend that wrapped up my 2^nd season as a Cyclocross racer, but I enjoyed my immensely and cannot wait for next year!

Ps. Some exciting news to come about plans for summer 2009.