Kissena Cycling Club

house renovation-hell has left me with zero time/energy to train.

as a complementary excuse sort of thing, i've been heard to loudly claim that i'm only buying cyclo-cross registrations for the "fun" of racing in an attempt to recharge my psychological bicycle batteries.

William seriously bombs the descent @ NoHo CX. Photo by Dave Trimble.

this past weekend's double header in northampton went far to replenish that je ne sais quoi that keeps me obsessed with bicycles/bicycle racing, although this write-up may not seem entirely convincing towards that end.

al, dave trimble, michelle and i drove up from millbrook, new york to northampton, mass on a below-freezing, frost encrusted saturday morning.

William gasps for air. Photo by Dave Trimble.

the transition from night to day as the sun peeked into the harlem valley (route 22) was lovely. al and i got very pumped listening to van morrison and The Boss. dave and michelle impressively fell asleep amidst our sing-a-long racket.

we met up with mattio at the race and pre-rode the course, which had a lot of variety and fun features.

long story short, al, mattio and i lined up in the third of 12 rows. i went out hard, moved up to 15th in the first lap (according to a screaming trimble) before totally, completely, royally, memorably blowing up and getting as nauseous as i've ever been on a bike. i've used roto-tillers that went faster than i did after the 2nd lap. after being passed by most of the field, i valiantly crashed trying to ride the run-up, hurt my elbow, and bravely quit.

William gasps for even more air. Photo by Dave Trimble.

mattio managed 4th in our category (our race was combined with a very strong field of 35+ riders) and al . . . hmm cant remember. i suspect the 7 pack of genese cream ale (now available in 7 packs!) i consumed over the course of the day (which, i'm comforted to hear, is an integral part of cyclocross tradition) obscured some of the details, including what i assume was another in a series of courageous performances on his part.

i do remember watching dave battling with the b's, moving up a ton of spots in a very competitive field. as for brittlee and michelle's races . . . you will have to ask them. file that with al's race into the "cream ale" drawer.

the best part of the day was definitely watching jamey driscoll and jeremy powers absolutely demolish the men's elite field. it is hard to describe how fast they were going; the term "balls out" comes to mind. i doubt i hit their average speed even once in either of my races over the course of the weekend. they took the turns with what appeared to be a mixture of total confidence and complete abandon. watching their rear wheels regularly sliding through turns hinted at a level of bike handling unknown to us. the whole elite field was stunningly fast. i'm not sure a single person in my field the first day rode the run up. i got within one pedal stroke of the top before falling over side-ways. these guys were popping up it in the big ring! also, mountain biker adam craig was there; he started in the back and finished fifth. incredible. seeing him in person, he looks like a total jock; a very muscular dude, not of the stereotypical cyclist mold, but incredibly effective on the bike. reminiscent of a certain kissena alum who just signed a pro contract.

we spent saturday night at mattio and heidi's HUGE (by city standards) apartment. i ate nutritional yeast? also, i read the Smith College student newspaper and learned the difference between transGendered and transSexual while getting fashion tips from both. what an incredible world we live in!

the next morning, after a "brady bunch" style queue for the bathroom, in which friendships were shattered, new allegiances forged, and plot lines advanced, we had a super pleasant warmup to the race along one of northampton's finest rail-trails. for the second day, the course was reversed; the run up was down a plummet-down, the down-hill was a run-up, and the genese was pbr. the other big change was that al and i switched bikes. i gave him charlie L.'s awesome gifted redline pro, since he is in good shape, and i took his bike, a bastardized '98 cannondale tourer i gave to him after receiving it as a "deal sweetener" when i traded in my Forester for a '76 chevy chevette in a local "cars for clunkers" promotion. among it's many attractive features are a rusted-in-place stem that raises the bars higher than the saddle, a headset with stripped threads, and a 1x8 drivetrain, that, 60% of the time, shifts every time.

however, the combination of a proper warmup and a more realistic measure of my abilities made for a much more enjoyable race. i started softly, eased into the effort, and was soon regularly passing people. i rode the whole race just under my limit and never went into serious difficulty. ended up finishing 7 seconds behind al and mattio for 11th place. much better . . . felt good . . even got in a blood-pumping sprint at the end with some meathead type. and you know what? the bike was great. super big frame (58) with a long long wheel base; it felt as planted as a mountain bike through the turns. if only it didn't require 6-8 weeks of advanced notification and 3 proofs of purchase before each shift, i might use it all the time.

we stuck around for the women's race, then michelle and al and i made fast for the delicious syndicated breakfast menu at Friendly's. we tripled dated on a root beer float, then blasted more Boss on the way outa nHampton (just so they know we mean business).

a great weekend. awesome to see my fellow kissenas and see some of the pros i read about in the magazines in action.

big up's to dan and my other teammates representing elsewhere.

will see some of you next weekend at the mercer cup, which will probably be my last race before settling down into grad school application-hell. it's like house-renovation hell, except i can't hire al and mattio to do it for me . . . or can i?!?

Devry-bound,

-william