Puppy

I never get any comments to my posts so I decided to post some pictures that will probably draw out some comments if anybody is reading this.









Nick and Jennifer's new puppy, Bailey.













Napping with Hank.

Carbon Wheels

I picked up a set of carbon wheels on ebay. The logos have been taken off but they're FSA RD 488s with Challenge Grifo tires. Used but in great shape. I'm thinking I might put my Dugasts on these rims and put these tires on my Velocity Deep V rims. The FSA wheels are not the lightest but they're tough. They are lighter than my Velocity wheels but about the same weight as my Reflex wheels with Flexus tires.




Well, I'm truly done with cyclocross for this year. The last race on my schedule is in Eugene tomorrow and I'm not going.

I've just finished this year's racing and I'm already excited about next year. I've decided I'm going to do some road races and time trials along with XC and CX races. I've been riding the road bike lately. I figured out what was causing the rear wheel to rub under power. The non-drive side spokes were too loose. I tightened them up and now I can hammer without any rubbing.

Psycho Cross

I think now I'm really done racing for the year. We hooked up the trailer Saturday and Susan and I drove to Eugene, Oregon for the third race of the Psycho Cross series. I don't think that I'm going to go back for the final race next weekend even though I think I'm in second place in Masters 50+. It's a four hour plus drive. The race this weekend was on Sunday so traveling on Saturday was okay. Next week it's on Saturday so I'd have to travel Friday afternoon. It was a fun race. There were only two in my age group so I got some good points. The other old guy has been winning everything lately. He won his age group both days last weekend at the USGP races in Portland.

The race was at a camp north of Eugene. They do conferences and retreats and have a pool, mini golf course, cabins and 6 RV spots. So we stayed in the trailer right on the race course. It was really great having the trailer there. It was cold. Cold by NW standards, not by Midwest standards. The high for the day was 37 degrees. It was probably about freezing when I raced at 9:30. I was able to ride to the trailer immediately after the race and take a shower to warm up. Just like the pro racers in Europe.



It was a great course. It had everything. Some pavement,














some smooth grass,













some bumpy grass,















a fast downhill leading to a













watercrossing,














some steps, that's me. Also some single track, barriers, a couple of runups and a sand pit. I robbed these pictures from the blog of one of the race directors.

They're going to race basically the same course next weekend. I'd like to go but I probably won't.

Cow Pasture

I guess I'm not done yet for the season. I raced in Arcata today. It was a really small race in a cow pasture. There was some single track. The course was rough and bumpy. It was fun though. I had an overall good time. Again, though, I felt like I just barely survived. I must get into better shape next year. They had a 30 minute and a 60 minute race. Naturally I raced the 30.

If you look carefully you can see the cow pies. You can also see all the cars that were there. I think there were only 25 or 30 racers.











It was a pretty setting for a race even if it was bumpy.












The after race activities included grilled hot dogs and beer provided by the race director. The raffle was great. This was his last race of the year and he wanted to get rid of everything. He gave a nice multi-tool to everyone who raced. I won one of the raffle items which consisted of two large containers of Heed powdered drink mix, a 26 serving Hammer Gel with flask and a hydration pack. It was worth the drive down.





The next two weekends are races in Eugene. I don't know if I'm going to do them. It's a long enough drive that I would have to spend the night before the race. The weather is getting shitty. It's supposed to snow in Portland this weekend for the USGP races.