I commuted in and out early today so that I could catch a train South for my cousin's wedding tomorrow. I took The Crescent Line which continues all the way to New Orleans. Riding the train is generally nice, but I didn't enjoy this ride all that much. The train was packed, with nearly every seat taken and the folks weren't all that nice. There was a lot of really inconsiderate people making quite a bit of noise at inopportune times. But I was in Greensboro by midnight after leaving at 6:30p from Union Station. Funny how the ride home in the car is more tolerable after a plane flight! I know if Jess were along for the trip, this one would have been far more enjoyable.

I'm back commuting on the road bike for the rest of the week, so that's good. I kept it nice an controlled this morning. After Vienna, I tagged along behind a guy in Disco kit and he gave me a nice pull. Eventually he slowed up and I moved on. Other than that, there was absolutely nothing eventful about this ride. I made it to work.

About the time I was due to ride home, the skies opened up in a big thunderstorm. It ended up lasting most of the night, so it was a good thing Pat drove in today. I hitched a ride with him and got home dry and toasty. My legs were happy about that as well. The odd thing is that I've got soreness the way I used to get when I'd miss several days of running. I call it 'guilty soreness'. I'm thinking maybe that started up because of the little bits of running we did for 'cross practice. Perhaps they got to thinking it was cross-country season all over again.

I endured another long commute on the 'cross bike and in the morning I felt like I was near bonking. I need a rest most likely and some food. But I made it in ok--albeit late and then after work I rode over to Lake Fairfax again for 'cross practice.

I worked more on the step through and I'm definitely getting more comfortable. I may even use it in the race on Sunday. Unclipping the left foot will be the last piece and I'm not sure when I'll add that. Right now, it's just too much to think about.

Practice today wasn't quite as productive as yesterday. After doing barriers, we rode laps on a short and long course that Judd had set up. I rode it decently and enjoyed the long run up he put in, but I certainly wasn't riding away from anyone. I'm not sure how it is I won a race with some of the guys there sucking my wheel. If they ride like they did today, but in the race on Sunday, perhaps we'll have a little bit better result from our crew. My technical skills still need tons of work. But I have improved.

George hooked me up with a ride home again. Thank God, because my legs needed a break. I'll be taking it super easy tomorrow and Friday, then Saturday will be off since I'll be in NC for my cousin's wedding.

Shockingly, my win on Sunday impressed folks enough that they gave me my cyclocross upgrade to Cat. 3. I'm now Cat. 3 on the road and the dirt. Now to make those both 2's . . . may be a bit tougher.

I really hate commuting on my 'cross bike. It just makes things frustrating because I can't stop and play in the dirt and it's real slow riding it on the pavement. But I do it anyway so that I can meet up at Lake Fairfax every now and then with Judd, Mel, et. al. to work on my skillz.

Today's workout was exactly the kind of workout I need. I made me feel totally inadequate as far as my cross skills go. I started working on my dismounts. I definitely want to be stepping through with my right leg rather than just dropping it behind my body. And I also want to unclip the left foot before reaching the barriers. That's tricky, but done correctly, it's faster and safer. Judd and Mel both have the dismount/remount down cold. It makes me look like the newbie that I am.

We also worked on some longer run-ups. I did quite well at those given my running background. But I wish I'd actually see one of those in a race. Around here, no one seems to like running. After that we did some climbing of steep hills, trying to simulate hills that are just barely rideable--getting used to going from a quick spin to a grind. Then we went up to the cricket field and rode a bit of leg tensioning/tempo around in the grass.

George was able to give me a ride home again, so I was able to stay for the duration and not have to worry about lights. Tomorrow, I'll be back out at the park for some more 'cross action. I just wish I wasn't commuting on the bike. Maybe I'll get a car soon?

Today, DennisBike, a.k.a. Dennis Smith, posted his shots of the B race on Sunday. As usual his work is stellar and we're lucky to have him working our races. So far he's the only one I've found with shots of the finish. They are quality:

What a great ending to the day. I came home from class tonight and found that my road upgrade finally went through. I'm officially a Cat. 3 now. Bring on the big boys. With a few more good placings, I should be able to match that upgrade in 'cross as well. Also, thanks to Morgan and Georgia making our race notable, we got some mild pub on the BikeReg summary of the race. Pretty cool.

I got back on the bike the morning bright and early for the commute. My right knee is still a bit sore as are my back and my right calf. The weather was downright chilly and I wore my windbreaker for the duration of the ride. I might have even used gloves if I'd had them handy.

I kept the pace to exactly what it should be a day after such a hard effort. My HR rarely ever peeked over 150 and I kept it below even base training pace for most of the time. It's nice to see that the trail is getting less crowded as the weather gets colder. 'Cross season is fully upon us.

It's been hard not thinking about yesterday's win, but once I got the race summary written up, I started to turn my mind towards next week's race at Lilypons. I think it will only get tougher from here. Todd should be ready for more battle and MikeO will surely be looking for redemption.

The ride home from work was great. I had a tailwind the whole way. The temperature was perfect and the sun was out. Since I left at 3p to get home early, the trail was pretty empty as well. I hit tempo for only about five minutes and the rest of the time was easy. A good recovery day.

Charm City Cross

To say I was excited for this race would have been a gross understatement. I made my bike racing debut here last year only two days after discovering clipless pedals. I rode on a hybrid and I had mechanical problems. But I had a blast and that was the start to my love of cyclocross. So I was really looking forward to coming back here with loads of experience from last season as well as a full year training on the bike and away from running. I actually have a bike suited for racing, I'm on a bike team, and I had extremely high hopes for what I could do here.

If you like picture books better, check out the pics Jess took. I've posted them with captions. I thought about firing her for missing the finish, but my agent informed me that I'm contractually obligated to continue the relationship. Seriously though, she took some good ones and it was great know I had her in the pits if I needed her.

My warmups for road races have been pretty lame, but I knew with the way 'cross races start, I couldn't afford not to get the legs snapping. I did some spinning on the trainer and then did starts to get ready on the roads around Druid Hill Park. I then rode one final lap on the course before making my way to the start line just minutes before the whistle. I was fortunate enough to have a starting box on the front row due to my tenth place in the MABRA series last year. On the front row with me were the usual suspects. My favorite for the race, Mike O'Hara of LSV along with C3 riders John Hostetter III and Chris Nystrom. Geogia Gould, the 2006 women's MTB National Champ joined us as well.

Last season my starts were horrendous and I bungled away the only callup I got at Fair Hill. I've been working on starts in practice and most every day because of that weakness and today it paid off. I hit the pedal on the first shot at it and was surprised how quickly I was clipped in. I nailed it, but unfortunately the riders on my left and right converged towards the corner and cut me off a little bit. I had to slow up some, but still made it to the first turn in aroudn 5th place.

O'Hara hit the dirt at top speed with his customary jump into the air. He seemed as excited about the return to 'cross as I did. But unfortunately, his excitement quickly went awry as he took the off carmber left hander at too high a speed and slid off into the course tape. I ended up having to stop when I hit his handlebars, but I was lucky enough to get around him and avoid the carnage behind me. That said, there was a decent gap that had formed up ahead. I started working to close it.

I believe we did eight laps total and the first three were brutal. I was thinking all kinds of negative thoughts and I was hurting. I started thinking that I wasn't fit enough, that I wasn't going to be able to hang in the lead group and that my handling skills weren't any better than last season. But I tried to keep those thoughts out and focus on the task at hand. I had the start I wanted and I was in a great position to do well if I could hang with the pace.

After those first laps, the pace did subside some and I was able to settle in a little more comfortably. I had some trouble in the sand pit when I forgot to dismount and I ended up getting a fist full of sand before recovering quickly. I handled all the other dismounts adequately and my remounts were going very well. I ran most of the hill out in the fields rather than remount immediately after the barriers as some riders were doing.

I was finally able to work my way past Steve Fife on the fields and eventually it was myself and Morgan Gerlak chasing Geogia and Todd Hesel of HVB. I was very impressed by Morgan. He's a 14 year old and last year he wasn't having much success in the B races. I mean, how well can a 13 year old do against men? Well, today he damn well proved he belongs with us and he was keeping me focused when I hurt the most. Needless to say, he had plenty of fans cheering for him on this, his home course.

At one point, I noticed that the gap was growing between Morgan and I and Georgia and Todd. So I said to Morgan, "We've got to close that gap!" He responded with an agreement to work together to work up to them. That's exactly what I wanted to hear, so I did the first of the work. I'm not entirely sure how to work together in a 'cross race. There's not really an advantage gained from drafting, so the effects seem to be more like running in a group. Folks serve to keep you focused, but I'm not sure how much you can actually rest when you're not leading.

In any case, I was able to close down the gap and I'm not sure if that's where Morgan was finally lost or not. But from then on, it was Todd, Georgia, and myself in the lead group. Coming up the asphalt through the start/finish, I was actually in the lead for the first time ever and I was feeling the effort it had taken to get me up to that point. So I sat up in the same way I've seen Vervecken and Nys do in races and I took a gander back at what what behind us. We had a solid gap and I was pretty sure that it would hold to the finish. But Georgia, wasn't as content and she said, "We've got to go, or Morgan's going to catch us." I think she just may have not wanted me to rest, but I went ahead and punched it pretty hard. The announcer loved it and I got to hear, "And the Coppi rider is attacking Georgia Gould." It was cool.

In the closing laps, I was absolutely flying through the off-camber and that time was no exception. I looked back and I had a gap on Todd and Georgia. But after several turns, they were shutting me down and coming into the sand pits, my lead wasn't much any longer. I led at least one lap and nearly two and Georgia was back into the lead at points as well. Todd stuck his head up there now and then, but we were all working hard and the race was on.

Coming back across the road on the penultimate lap, I felt and heard a bolt and washer come off my bike! Inside, I was freaking out, but kept pedaling. I was sure it was a brake bolt, since I'd done so much tweaking in the past week, but a quick check showed me it wasn't--they were working fine. My next guess was the chain ring bolts, but as far as I could tell, they were fine too. I yelled to Jess to get my bike ready as I passed the pits. I didn't know what was wrong, but I assumed I'd find out sooner or later. My mechanicing didn't cost me the race as I didn't find out that it was one of my two seatpost bolts that had fallen out until after the race. There was no problem--thank God!

On the bell lap, Georgia attacked and the announcer noted how early it was for her to be attacking. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not. Maybe she knew that her handling was her best chance since I think Todd and I were stronger. But in any case, she gapped me and Todd was able to latch on. I was falling back! I didn't panic yet. I just wanted to get through the technical sections without making a big mistake and then get out into the fields where I could make up big ground as I'd done before. I did just that and coming to the barriers at the base of the hill, I passed Georgia and Todd by running up the hill before remounting. They were all on my tail and I tried so hard not to touch my brakes as we flew back across the road.

I nailed it up the hill to the set of natural barriers and from then on, my focus was to protect the lead. I knew that if I could lead after the final set of barriers, that I would most likely win. I could ride the final twists and turn at my own pace because there was no room to pass (remind folks of last year?). As soon as we hit the asphalt and made the turn for home, I knew I had it won. I only halfway sprinted to start with to see if Todd would try to come around or suck my wheel, but I instantly had a gap. From there, I downshifted just as fast as I could and I sprinted all out to the line. I let out a yell, gave the salute and fully enjoyed my first podium and first win in cyclocross.

To win today at Charm City was awesome. It's my favorite course with the exception of Granogue and the competition here is always strong because the MAC season hasn't yet started. I came in with the goal of beating Georgia and putting my nose up front for a spell. I had aspirations of winning but didn't know yet if they were pipe dreams or not. I was hungry but nervous about my chances and to win was more than I could have hoped for. Hat's off to Nystrom, Bernie, Vonteity, Auer, Hostetter, etc. for another great race.

Charm City Preview

I didn't have the time to post this before the race, but here were my predictions for Sunday's race based on the folks who'd pre-registered. I was pretty much right about the heavy hitters. MikeO had a bad day and I think Mayhew is getting into form since he raced the B's and A's on Sunday. Gerlak definitely showed he belongs. Nick Bax didn't pre-reg or I'dve had him in the top 3 for sure.

1. Mike O'Hara 28 Baltimore, MD An avid urban photographer and blogger, Mike surely plans to make this second season of 'cross one worth capturing on film. His rookie campaign was a memorable one with multiple MAC series top ten finishes. He finished 2nd here a year ago--albeit in the C race. He became one of the most consistent Killer B's around last season and he enters this one with a definite bullseye on his back.

2. Georgia Gould 26 Ketchum, ID This course will be all-to-familiar to Gould. Baltimore is where she was first introduced to the sport and ever since then she's been a rider to watch. A relative newbie to the 'cross scene, she nonetheless proved she belonged on the national stage last year. She even dropped by to open up a can on the Killer B's at a couple of MABRA races. But this year on the MTB, she left everyone in her dust and took home the Stars-n-stripes jersey at Pro Nationals. We can barely wait to see what this Idahoan has in store for this year in the mud.

3. Chris Mayhew 30 Pittsburgh, PA Far more well-known for his announcing skills on the MAC circuit, Mayhew put together quite a consistent season a year ago. He's one of the top returners to the B circuit and that experience should get him off to a strong start this season. Certainly, he's capable of winning this one if he's on good form.

4. Steve Fife 32 Reston, VA It's impossible to miss the Rockville Harley colors on this rider. He's always near the front and looking to attack. Last season he showed he can handle a bike off-road and this summer he's shown he's got the engine to do it on the road as well. Narrowly missing the overall at this year's Cat. 4 Tour de Toona, Steve must have plans to give the MABRA 'Cross Crown a shot.

5. Ray Ignosh 32 Breinigsville, PA A relative unkown to the MABRA racers, this rider has proven himself to be very consistent on the competitive MAC circuit. He's a seasoned vet and performs well on the track, the road, and the trails. Surely he will leave his mark on B'more. It's all a question of where his form lies this early in the season. If it's right, he could be a sleeper pick for the win.

6. Marc Vettori 35 Elkton, MD Another popular blogger, with the most off-beat humor in the area. This year he's joined up with the ever powerful Fort crew. Last year he raced mostly Masters races and accorded himself quite well. It's somewhat of a mystery how well he'll perform in B's this season--or even whether he plans to stick around in the category, but to be sure, there will be plenty to write about this one after he's toed the line at Charm City.

7. John Hostetter III 32 Perryville, MD This rider has been a consistent B racer for the past couple years. Last season he showed some great form to reach the podium in a MABRA race, but this season he's no doubt looking for more than that. It remains to be seen whether this is a course that suits him or not. Last season he finished 20th here. We expect a better result the second time around.

8. Chris Nystrom 35 Ellicott City, MD Another one of the B Bloggers, Nystrom is one of the promoters of this fine race. No doubt he will have all the inside information about the course here, but whether all the stress and time spent setting the thing up will take its toll is a question that must be answered. He finished 13th here last year and went on to be very consistent throughout the season when not maligned by mechs and sickness. Big things are expected by folks riding Dugast and Nystrom hopes to do those supple casings proud.

9. Bernard McDonald 39 Baltimore, MD Another one of the tireless promoters, we'll see if he's ready for the season on race day. Trying to gain some for for the season, he's raced sporadically on the roads with relative success. He too fell victim to promoter fatigue last year and finished 22nd. He recovered nicely to finish 7th in a very strong field the following week. But the rest of the season was up and down. He finished it on a high note however, with the birth of a child.

10. Jared Nieters 29 Washington, VA An impressive Cat. 3 racer on the road, it's pretty hard to believe that he won't improve from his 51st place finish here a year ago. There's no doubt that had a little something to do with mechanical trouble. Nieters was conistently just outside the top ten in the MABRA series last year, finishing a season best 7th in the mudfest that was Hagerstown. We think there'll be quite an improvement this season as a season of experience will allow him to use his powerful engine to make a statement on the 'cross scene.

11. Zach Adams 16 Carlisle, PA Last year he proved to be the best junior in the region not named Bax and he did it consistently throughout. He ended his season with a 15th place at Nationals and this season he's joined up with the Fort crew--bringing a strong junior to their fold. Methinks he wants to prove that he's more than just a "junior" and hopes to mix it up quite a bit with the big boys. It's going to require some strength and maturity, but if Adams puts it all together, some of the older folks could be left watching youth pass them by.

12. Todd Hesel 28 Parkville, MD Riding for the black and green of 'cross power HVB, Hesel will look to make up for the loss of Sean Mealey to the A ranks. Hesel raced only sporadically last season, with mixed results, but he proved this summer that he has an engine to be reckoned with. He finished third on the Queen stage of the Tour de Toona and did it emphatically--finishing on that same step of the podium for the KOM competition. Will he be able to put it all together offroad this season? We'll see, but it's hard not to expect success from this rider any time he strikes a pedal in anger.

13. James Ambagis 36 Newark, DE FortJames spent most of last season as a stellar pit-man for the Fort crew. But he also spent most of last season in search of that elusive C race win. He came awfully close two cold days in a row at Fair Hill. There's no telling how he and his fellow C racers will make the leap to the B's, but good things seem to happen to those with hairy legs. We might see a Sampson situation here if he gives in, however. Here's to hoping FortJames can hold off Delilah and put Fort in the thick of things in the only series they didn't dominate last year.

14. The Field: Pomajevich, Milinkovic, Sauder, Berson, Bowman, Gerlak, Harshman, Kirk, and Lea, and Fader. These are guys we either know nothing about or just didn't crack the top 13. Any of these riders could easily ride themselves into the top 10 or perhaps pull off the win. And that's saying nothing about those who scorned pre-reg. One thing's for sure: we're in for a terrific season of cyclocross this year. Let the racing begin!

Today's race was in Wilmington, DE. When we arrived, it was supposed to be exactly one hour to the start of my race, so I suited up and went to register, but I found out then that they were running an hour behind schedule because the cops didn't show up on time to close off the downtown crit course. Once they did, we had a great course to race on. This was easily one of my favorite courses.

The course was of the 'figure eight' variety, with eight corners, rather than the usual four of a rectangle. And this made for a fun course. Just after and just before the start/finish, there were two decent hills, and in the middle, there was a steep downhill. It was in the very urban downtown setting of Wilmington, DE. It was a great venue.

From the gun, three riders including Clifton Chamberlin of Harley built a small gap. I was in front of the peloton and I, nor any of the others, really felt like closing the gap. It was early, there were 18-19 laps still to come and what was the point? The gap got a little bigger in the next few laps, but still nothing huge. Eventually, Clifton dropped back to the peloton. I'm guessing he did this because he assumed the break would be caught and he didn't want to work as hard. Jess seemed to think he couldn't hang in the break, so I'm not sure what he was up to.


Well, after Clifton returned to the peloton, the break got further and further up the road. The gap was large enough that they would disappear around corners. I started asking Jess for time checks with ~15 laps to go and when I heard 19 seconds, I was scratching my head a bit. There was no reason those two guys should be adding time.

I started trying to get the pace up and I went to the front a few times and pulled. Each time I did, no one would aid in the pacemaking, with the exception of my teammate, Mark Skubis and a few other random guys--no of whom really pulled all that hard. This being the Delaware State Crit Championship, I assumed that FSVS would do some work, considering they had a lot of riders in the field. I told them as much in the race, but they never did anything. I told Skubis that I thought we'd start catching the break, but if we didn't, at 6 to go, we should bridge the gap as a duo.

Well, somewhere in the neighborhood of 11-12 laps to go, I wanted to bump up the pace, so I went to the front and hit it hard. I looked back and had a gap. Oh well, I thought, I guess I'm going for the solo bridge . . . It was decently windy--the way it can get in downtowns with large buildings. So I was a bit worried about whether I could actually bridge on my own. But I settled in and put my head down.


I had Jess giving me time checks and I started gaining on the leading two riders. I closed to within eight seconds, and had them in my sights, but I couldn't quite close the deal. They dangled out there in front of me and I kept losing time in some of the more technical turns. Eventually I started hearing time checks that were about like twelve seconds to the leaders and twelve seconds back to the peloton. I was well in control of no-mans-land. With less than five laps remaining, I started to think the peloton was gaining. They'd widdled my lead down to twelve seconds from about eighteen seconds, so I realized I'd better worry more about preserving my spot than on chasing down the front two.

With four remaining, I was hammering a straight section before the finish when I heard a rider on my wheel. I was stunned, I looked back and saw Clifton and assumed that the peloton was with him. Thank God they weren't! I told him to pull, but he wanted to rest some and I was ok with that if he'd help us close the gap once he did. I pulled through the finish and then motioned for him to take over.

Well, he did a bit too good of a job. Since I'd been out there for about 10 miles without any cover from the wind, I was pretty gassed. When we went to pull, he instantly had a tiny gap and I should have closed it immediately. But comiing into a technical turn, I lost a bit more gap to him and it only got bigger. My legs were starting to really hurt.

Clifton eventually made it up to the two leaders and I was happy to keep my fourth place. The two leaders duked it out for the win, with Clifton a bit too tired to fight, rolling in behind them. I came a short time later, followed by my teammate Skubis winning the field sprint for fifth.


Looking back on this one, it's somewhat a bittersweet result. I got fourth place and sealed up my upgrade to Cat. 3, but I came into this race reenergized to race well and knowing I could win. Had I gone with the two leaders early in the race, I think I would have won or at worst been second. But with all the knowledge of a year of racing, I still would never go with a break that early. Without the peloton being so unmotivated and poorly organized, that break would have easily been brought back. But that's racin'. They got lucky today and pulled off the win.

Today my legs were crappy--what else is new? I'm pretty sore on my right side from the crash, but it's not that big a deal. I rode fine. I'm back on the road bike for a bit. This is mainly to add speed to my commute, but I'm also planning to race twice more on the road before calling it a season. This weekend, I'll be in Wilmington, DE and the following weekend will be the district RR championships out in Poolesville, MD. Too bad there won't be any dirt involved this time.

Coming home, I was bored and wasn't all that thrilled about twenty more miles on crappy legs. So I decided to follow the advice of this article, and see if I could maintain a cadence of 105 rpm. That's a very fast spin considering I'm usually in the low to mid 80's. But I spun things up and shifted to keep the spin going accordingly. That usually meant lots of upshifting. A funny thing happened: I had fun! It was something different mostly, but I had something to pass the time with and it kept me from getting frustrated with my legs.

With the wedding, moving, and all of that this summer, I basically gave up on any assemblance of a training plan, and since starting back, I've mostly just hammered my way back to fitness. That's only partially worked and it's left me with consistently tired legs. Being sick didn't help matters and the crash yesterday was just piling on. But I'm much more optimistic about 'cross season. I plan to rest more. There, I said it: Rest.

For the second Wednesday in a row, I met up with the crew for cyclocross practice. We had a bigger group this week with Eric Marshall, Peter Nicoll, and two other non-Coppis joining up with myself, Judd, and Mel. With all the rains of the past week, we decided to avoid Lake Fairfax and Difficult Run and to instead hit the gravel heading West.

We started tearing up the trail. I was feeling strong and having a blast until the tril decided to tear me up. Riding behind Eric, I entered a section not far from Orbital that I've ridden many times heading East. It's easir that way as you see the ruts in the ground a little more easily. Since I was riding behind Eric, I couldn't see very far ahead and I didn't pick up the rut very fast. When I did, I was able to get up on the ridge going around it--or so I thought. Apparently I got the front wheel up there, but the back wheel decided to stay put and I went down hard.

We were probably riding in the 18-20 mph range and I hit the ground on my right side and slid for a ways. The gravel I was in was about like what you'd put in your driveway. It hurt. I layed there for a short bit composing myself and letting the sting of fresh flesh sink in. I was bleeding on my right forearm and right hip. There was quite a bit of dirt in my arm. My shorts were only slightly ripped. My right shifter was pushed way out of alignment and had some dirt inside it. My bartape had a huge gash in it.

I picked myself up and reseated the chain, which despite my 2 guards, came off after the crash. We continued on West until the crossing with 28 and then turned around to head East. On the way back, we played a game where the guy in front would yell, "Run," and then we'd all dismount, carry the bike over some imaginary barriers, shoulder it and then run for a bit, all before remounting the bike and continuing on our way. We did that a few times before making it back to Michael Faraday Ct.

Once we got back, it was time for Peter and I to start heading home to Arlington. I was feeling pretty whipped at that point, but we kept the pace very respectable. I even raced him up the hill at 66 and got a little mroe than I bargained for. I was wearing the dots, however, so I had to gut that out and nip him at the top. From there we mostly chilled out and I turned off at the Custis Trail.

When I got home, David gave me a hand cooking while I scrubbed my wounds in the shower. After we had the meal ready, I was feeling weak, the way I did a couple weeks ago when I was sick. I forced down the food though since I hadn't really eaten much since lunch. Then I called it a night and tried to figure out how I could sleep without bleeding all over my sheets. Ugh. I'd post pictures of the carnage, but Jess has my camera up in PA.

It was lucky that I decided to hang on to the rental car until this afternoon as it was pouring when I woke up this morning. I left the 'cross bike in the back of the car from the trip back home last night, so I was all set to head to work. Since I'd told Pat I might need a ride in case of bad weather, he was pretty stunned to see my bike in the office. No, I'm not quite that hardcore.

It cleared up nicely by quittin' time and I hit a few trails on the way home. Since I'd accidentally left my trail pump in Pittsburgh, I was a little worried about flatting and I considered stopping in Reston to get another pump. But ignored that though and kept on riding. I was riding the trails and just before Hunter Mill, I started feeling a little more bottoming out on my rear wheel than I'm used to. When I stopped to check the tire, it was really low. I was stunned I was able to ride on it, but I continued on. Well, not long after that, I was riding on the rim--I had a flat.

I walked up the hill and then stopped at the bench in front of Hunter Mill Rd. Since it was so wet out, there weren't nearly as many folks out and I started to get worried that I wouldn't see anyone with a pump come by. But after a few minutes, I yelled out to a guy riding a nice Bianchi fixed gear. He didn't have a pump, but he had some CO2 cartridges and was more than happy to donate one to my cause. I only had a tube for my road bike, but I stuck it in there and pumped it up and continued on to Reston. He was an Army infantry officer stationed at Bolling AFB. Nice guy.

When I got to Reston, I stopped in at Spokes and picked up 2 tubes and a pump. Jess needs one too, so buying another pump was probably long overdue. I kept my wheels as is and rolled home without incident. When I got home, I took out my PVC barriers for the first time and went down the street to set them up in the park. I rode around in the mud and got good and nasty. I did quite a few barrier drills.

My biggest problem with barriers right now is doing them under control. A few times I came in with a bit too much speed and would have crashed into the first one. I also tend to get to much momentum for the remount and I nearly missed the saddle in the wrong spot a couple of times. My weaknesses were exacerabated by the wet conditions, but I got in some good work nonetheless. It was true 'cross weather today to be sure.

The rains of Ernesto finally subsided and today has been pretty nice. I'm up in Jefferson Hills, PA helping Jess get all settled in to her new place. After church this morning, the plan was to go mountain/cross biking some in Pittsburgh. Well, after a long nap, we finally got our act together and loaded up the car.

After a decently long drive into the city on the Blue Belt, we made our way to Frick Park. I found the playground off of Beechwood Ave., that I read about, but there wasn't any good parking other than the street, so we kept driving until we found a small parking area at the base of a huge hill. It was at the enterance to the "Fire Trail" so we upacked the bikes and started cranking.

The trails of Frick Park are a lot of fun. We didn't do really any of the singletrack that I'd read about, but instead explored the park on the double wide gravel paths. We rode up to Cowboy Hill and the Bowling Green, the Northernmost sections of the park. We explored a bit more around there before checking out a map and realizing we needed to head West to get to the bulk of the park. We rode along Beechwood to the playground and the across the wide open fields.

It was just getting dark as we were discovering more interesting trails, so we had to hightail it back to the car. Neither Jess nor I had previously gone as fast offroad as we did descending back the car. The 'cross bike was absolutely perfect for these trails and I'm looking forward to exploring some of the singletrack next time we come back. It's a shame that the six months Jess will sepnd here that most of it will probably see this park covered in snow. I worked on a few starts and remounts before calling it a day.

So far, I have to say that as a city, I really like Pittsburgh. The downtown is pretty cool with all the rivers and bridges and it seems like its got some intersting things to do. We drove through Squirrel Hill I believe it was as well as a few other neighborhoods and I had to pick my jaw off the floor after seeing a few of the mansions along the way. It's easy to see that there was once quite a bit of money around these parts. There must be some here still.