Not only is cyclocross season about to hit us, but I've also been named Project Manager for a massive newspaper digitization grant proposal through the NEH. I am both excited and overwhelmed by this particular project. I hope that regimented training will help me stay focused so that we might successfully get this grant. Check out the program: http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/
It is due on November 1st. Must stay calm.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Big Time
Not only is cyclocross season about to hit us, but I've also been named Project Manager for a massive newspaper digitization grant proposal through the NEH. I am both excited and overwhelmed by this particular project. I hope that regimented training will help me stay focused so that we might successfully get this grant. Check out the program: http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/
It is due on November 1st. Must stay calm.
It is due on November 1st. Must stay calm.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
The K2 Enemy is no more.
So K2 bikes doesn't want to warranty my old frame. After being pretty bummed about this, I realized it was my fault since I didn't keep the paperwork. Everyone out there should learn this lesson from me and keep all paperwork from bikes and frames they buy. It might save you heartache and hassle. Anyway, it don't matter since--I'm riding a FREE frame from a manufacturer on the East Coast that my brother is hooked up with.As I am without a cx bike currently, I'm riding my mountain bike in order to get used to riding off-road. I have to say that its been over a year since I've ridden this rig, and I really like it. (1997 or 1998 Barracuda--before they went backrupt. Its old but I'm not a mtn. biker, so its not really been ridden that much . . . )
The K2 Enemy is no more.
So K2 bikes doesn't want to warranty my old frame. After being pretty bummed about this, I realized it was my fault since I didn't keep the paperwork. Everyone out there should learn this lesson from me and keep all paperwork from bikes and frames they buy. It might save you heartache and hassle. Anyway, it don't matter since--I'm riding a FREE frame from a manufacturer on the East Coast that my brother is hooked up with.As I am without a cx bike currently, I'm riding my mountain bike in order to get used to riding off-road. I have to say that its been over a year since I've ridden this rig, and I really like it. (1997 or 1998 Barracuda--before they went backrupt. Its old but I'm not a mtn. biker, so its not really been ridden that much . . . )
Monday, August 7, 2006
1987
The 3rd track on the new Flaming Lips album is going through my head, and for some reason this makes me think of travelling to races on hazy August days with a guy from Columbia named Leon Brodie. Leon was one of those guys who went from a Cat. 4 to a 2 in a matter of months--he was also incredibly generous with his time, taking me to 3 or 4 races across the Midwest, even though he had to travel from Columbia to Kirksville to pick me up.
One of the races that we went to was a huge affair in Bloomington Illinois, some time in late August or early September of '87. The junior race was filled with heavy hitters--Chris Petty, Tommy Matush, Trent Lundberg, Andy Smentkowski, the Midwest's best were also the nations best at the time. When the shit hit the fan, somehow I got into a select group of 20 out of a field of about 85 juniors. The sprint among those of us left was gnarly, a few guys went down behind me, Petty accelerated from about 20th place into 5th place, spinning out as he took off, and I snuck into the money, at 19th, right behind Eric Brown from St. Louis. Trent Lundberg won it. Or Matush. Those 7-Eleven juniors were like semi-pros, man. They were the farm team for the big guns in Europe.
I remember riding mountain bikes with my friend Christopher Jones when we both worked out in Colorado. Christopher had also been at that race. He was from Ohio, like Lundberg was. It was 1997 and he was, like, "I remember that race--Trent Lundberg was tough in that sprint." I'd only met this guy in 1997, but we had a shared past of doing some of the big junior races in the mid and late 1980s--Nationals out in Boise Idaho, the Apple Cup when it was designated as a Junior Worlds Trials Qualifying race, a road race up in Des Moines that featured one of the largest junior fields I ever remember (100 plus guys, again, all vying for Junior Worlds places). Midwest racing was huge then--I mean, we simply had the best riders in the nation at the time. Matush, Livingston, Brinker, Petty-- the list could go on and on. And a lot of these guys were from Missouri . . . . .
Racing has changed a lot since then. With the exception of a few diehards, no juniors from that era really race anymore. I guess I feel like cyclocross is the new frontier in some ways. But I'll always remember the guys who helped me out--Leon Brodie, Jeff Kalo who was from Michigan and in med school in Kirksville, Dan Indermuhle down here in Columbia, Dan Fish from Iowa. I had an amazing passion for the sport then--I was blinded by my passion for it in some ways. There was no two ways about it--I wanted to be one the best, and when I couldn't I quit and went to art school. Its hard to understand just how competitive American road cycling was back then--especially the junior ranks. To me, those were the halcyon days of American cycling.
One of the races that we went to was a huge affair in Bloomington Illinois, some time in late August or early September of '87. The junior race was filled with heavy hitters--Chris Petty, Tommy Matush, Trent Lundberg, Andy Smentkowski, the Midwest's best were also the nations best at the time. When the shit hit the fan, somehow I got into a select group of 20 out of a field of about 85 juniors. The sprint among those of us left was gnarly, a few guys went down behind me, Petty accelerated from about 20th place into 5th place, spinning out as he took off, and I snuck into the money, at 19th, right behind Eric Brown from St. Louis. Trent Lundberg won it. Or Matush. Those 7-Eleven juniors were like semi-pros, man. They were the farm team for the big guns in Europe.
I remember riding mountain bikes with my friend Christopher Jones when we both worked out in Colorado. Christopher had also been at that race. He was from Ohio, like Lundberg was. It was 1997 and he was, like, "I remember that race--Trent Lundberg was tough in that sprint." I'd only met this guy in 1997, but we had a shared past of doing some of the big junior races in the mid and late 1980s--Nationals out in Boise Idaho, the Apple Cup when it was designated as a Junior Worlds Trials Qualifying race, a road race up in Des Moines that featured one of the largest junior fields I ever remember (100 plus guys, again, all vying for Junior Worlds places). Midwest racing was huge then--I mean, we simply had the best riders in the nation at the time. Matush, Livingston, Brinker, Petty-- the list could go on and on. And a lot of these guys were from Missouri . . . . .
Racing has changed a lot since then. With the exception of a few diehards, no juniors from that era really race anymore. I guess I feel like cyclocross is the new frontier in some ways. But I'll always remember the guys who helped me out--Leon Brodie, Jeff Kalo who was from Michigan and in med school in Kirksville, Dan Indermuhle down here in Columbia, Dan Fish from Iowa. I had an amazing passion for the sport then--I was blinded by my passion for it in some ways. There was no two ways about it--I wanted to be one the best, and when I couldn't I quit and went to art school. Its hard to understand just how competitive American road cycling was back then--especially the junior ranks. To me, those were the halcyon days of American cycling.
1987
The 3rd track on the new Flaming Lips album is going through my head, and for some reason this makes me think of travelling to races on hazy August days with a guy from Columbia named Leon Brodie. Leon was one of those guys who went from a Cat. 4 to a 2 in a matter of months--he was also incredibly generous with his time, taking me to 3 or 4 races across the Midwest, even though he had to travel from Columbia to Kirksville to pick me up.
One of the races that we went to was a huge affair in Bloomington Illinois, some time in late August or early September of '87. The junior race was filled with heavy hitters--Chris Petty, Tommy Matush, Trent Lundberg, Andy Smentkowski, the Midwest's best were also the nations best at the time. When the shit hit the fan, somehow I got into a select group of 20 out of a field of about 85 juniors. The sprint among those of us left was gnarly, a few guys went down behind me, Petty accelerated from about 20th place into 5th place, spinning out as he took off, and I snuck into the money, at 19th, right behind Eric Brown from St. Louis. Trent Lundberg won it. Or Matush. Those 7-Eleven juniors were like semi-pros, man. They were the farm team for the big guns in Europe.
I remember riding mountain bikes with my friend Christopher Jones when we both worked out in Colorado. Christopher had also been at that race. He was from Ohio, like Lundberg was. It was 1997 and he was, like, "I remember that race--Trent Lundberg was tough in that sprint." I'd only met this guy in 1997, but we had a shared past of doing some of the big junior races in the mid and late 1980s--Nationals out in Boise Idaho, the Apple Cup when it was designated as a Junior Worlds Trials Qualifying race, a road race up in Des Moines that featured one of the largest junior fields I ever remember (100 plus guys, again, all vying for Junior Worlds places). Midwest racing was huge then--I mean, we simply had the best riders in the nation at the time. Matush, Livingston, Brinker, Petty-- the list could go on and on. And a lot of these guys were from Missouri . . . . .
Racing has changed a lot since then. With the exception of a few diehards, no juniors from that era really race anymore. I guess I feel like cyclocross is the new frontier in some ways. But I'll always remember the guys who helped me out--Leon Brodie, Jeff Kalo who was from Michigan and in med school in Kirksville, Dan Indermuhle down here in Columbia, Dan Fish from Iowa. I had an amazing passion for the sport then--I was blinded by my passion for it in some ways. There was no two ways about it--I wanted to be one the best, and when I couldn't I quit and went to art school. Its hard to understand just how competitive American road cycling was back then--especially the junior ranks. To me, those were the halcyon days of American cycling.
One of the races that we went to was a huge affair in Bloomington Illinois, some time in late August or early September of '87. The junior race was filled with heavy hitters--Chris Petty, Tommy Matush, Trent Lundberg, Andy Smentkowski, the Midwest's best were also the nations best at the time. When the shit hit the fan, somehow I got into a select group of 20 out of a field of about 85 juniors. The sprint among those of us left was gnarly, a few guys went down behind me, Petty accelerated from about 20th place into 5th place, spinning out as he took off, and I snuck into the money, at 19th, right behind Eric Brown from St. Louis. Trent Lundberg won it. Or Matush. Those 7-Eleven juniors were like semi-pros, man. They were the farm team for the big guns in Europe.
I remember riding mountain bikes with my friend Christopher Jones when we both worked out in Colorado. Christopher had also been at that race. He was from Ohio, like Lundberg was. It was 1997 and he was, like, "I remember that race--Trent Lundberg was tough in that sprint." I'd only met this guy in 1997, but we had a shared past of doing some of the big junior races in the mid and late 1980s--Nationals out in Boise Idaho, the Apple Cup when it was designated as a Junior Worlds Trials Qualifying race, a road race up in Des Moines that featured one of the largest junior fields I ever remember (100 plus guys, again, all vying for Junior Worlds places). Midwest racing was huge then--I mean, we simply had the best riders in the nation at the time. Matush, Livingston, Brinker, Petty-- the list could go on and on. And a lot of these guys were from Missouri . . . . .
Racing has changed a lot since then. With the exception of a few diehards, no juniors from that era really race anymore. I guess I feel like cyclocross is the new frontier in some ways. But I'll always remember the guys who helped me out--Leon Brodie, Jeff Kalo who was from Michigan and in med school in Kirksville, Dan Indermuhle down here in Columbia, Dan Fish from Iowa. I had an amazing passion for the sport then--I was blinded by my passion for it in some ways. There was no two ways about it--I wanted to be one the best, and when I couldn't I quit and went to art school. Its hard to understand just how competitive American road cycling was back then--especially the junior ranks. To me, those were the halcyon days of American cycling.
Riding with Daverill
Riding with Daverill
Thursday, August 3, 2006
22 years of doping
Henny Kuiper won Milan San-Remo in 1985 in his mid 30s—and Joop Zootemelk won the Worlds that year at the age of 40. They were both haunted by doping suspicions for a lot of their careers. Same with Freddy Maertens. I was initially inspired to become a cyclist by Alexi Grewal’s amazing win at the 1984 Olympics against a stellar amateur field. But remember the doping suspicions surrounding him back in 1984? All this is nothing new. After two days of disappointment, I realize that I still love cycling and will still follow the sport.
With that said—I think Dick Pound and WADA are f*cked.
With that said—I think Dick Pound and WADA are f*cked.
22 years of doping
Henny Kuiper won Milan San-Remo in 1985 in his mid 30s—and Joop Zootemelk won the Worlds that year at the age of 40. They were both haunted by doping suspicions for a lot of their careers. Same with Freddy Maertens. I was initially inspired to become a cyclist by Alexi Grewal’s amazing win at the 1984 Olympics against a stellar amateur field. But remember the doping suspicions surrounding him back in 1984? All this is nothing new. After two days of disappointment, I realize that I still love cycling and will still follow the sport.
With that said—I think Dick Pound and WADA are f*cked.
With that said—I think Dick Pound and WADA are f*cked.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Its over
I am through with professional cycling for the time being. I may go back and look at results 3 years from now, but I can't follow the sport right now. The only thing I care about anymore in the cycling world is cyclocross. Pro road cycling has become a deeply corrupt sport. I despise everything that has happened over the last few years.
With that said, I'm going to get my K2 'cross frame replaced, and I should have a sweet ride built up again by September. I can't do the NEMO triathlon because of some neck problems I'm having, but maybe that's for the best since exposing myself to the tragicomedy that is the sport of triathlon is an exhausting and expensive proposal. At least those folks don't dope, or do they?
With that said, I'm going to get my K2 'cross frame replaced, and I should have a sweet ride built up again by September. I can't do the NEMO triathlon because of some neck problems I'm having, but maybe that's for the best since exposing myself to the tragicomedy that is the sport of triathlon is an exhausting and expensive proposal. At least those folks don't dope, or do they?
Its over
I am through with professional cycling for the time being. I may go back and look at results 3 years from now, but I can't follow the sport right now. The only thing I care about anymore in the cycling world is cyclocross. Pro road cycling has become a deeply corrupt sport. I despise everything that has happened over the last few years.
With that said, I'm going to get my K2 'cross frame replaced, and I should have a sweet ride built up again by September. I can't do the NEMO triathlon because of some neck problems I'm having, but maybe that's for the best since exposing myself to the tragicomedy that is the sport of triathlon is an exhausting and expensive proposal. At least those folks don't dope, or do they?
With that said, I'm going to get my K2 'cross frame replaced, and I should have a sweet ride built up again by September. I can't do the NEMO triathlon because of some neck problems I'm having, but maybe that's for the best since exposing myself to the tragicomedy that is the sport of triathlon is an exhausting and expensive proposal. At least those folks don't dope, or do they?
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