Where is the snow?

Jim Merrifield

The cold must be numbing my brain. And I have long since reached the age where my brain cells have reached their peak number and efficiency. Normally, by now whether I am living in the northeast or in the Madison area, the roads are not conducive to bike commuting. I always ride on roads that retain their iciness after the first snow or ice event because they are less traveled. And when it is dark, I do not like the chances of hitting a patch of black ice. This year, the roads are STILL clear. I do not need winter tires or fenders. Hell, I am STILL doing the occasional commute on my Madone. I should have long since hung up the good bike to keep it safe and protected from the elements. Last night, I road home from work. It was a big tail wind and was above freezing (barely) so of course I was going to ride. Like I said, the cold must be numbing my brain. Admittedly, I have very good lights, front and rear so do not feel unsafe and it is pretty out when all the stars are shining but really, the view is just as nice and a good deal more enjoyable from our hot tub! And just last night (and this was after I just got home and my feet were still kinda numb and my fingers were still white), I was telling Jan (aka my beloved) that I was thinking about riding BOTH directions Thursday because it was going to be 40F for the ride home - WARM! And then I thought "did I just use warm and 40F in the same sentence?" And to do it, I was going to have to ride IN (my car pool mate was not going to work) and it was going to be cold in the AM - duh! Must be the lack of snow.

CX Party before Nationals

Machinery Row Bicycles is throwing a CX party the Friday before Nationals. Free beer, frites and mussels. Jonathan Page, Ryan Trebon and Katie Compton are going to be there. SRAM is sponsoring the event and will be bringing quite a few of their star riders as well.
Machinery Row Bicycles

 

Saturday's cold podium

45+

Dan Casper on the top step
Wayne Simon right behind him
luckily they still had room for me on the podium...

Badger Cross Saturday

I'm really not sure why I ignored the 10 degree temperature reading before heading out to the Badger Prairie race this weekend. Not only had it been about a month since my last cross race, but I've put in about two real training rides in that time. Darkness, holidays (including deer hunting season), and pre-winter laziness have been interrupting what has been a very ride-able late fall. Sure, some of that happens every year, but it seems like even more happened this year.

Back to Saturday...not sure why the 10 degree reading didn't register. Packed the car and headed over to Badger Prairie park in Verona. It was a cold walk to registration but the warm-up was tolerable and I was starting to feel like the race wouldn't be too bad either. Then I took off the booties and sat at the start line for 10 minutes.

The first lap (of 5) instantly froze my fingers. I thawed them out by lap 3, but the toes were numb for all but the first and last laps. Despite the issues with the cold, I enjoyed the course especially the run up. Unfortunately, not too much racing action to talk about. After things settled down during the first lap I only passed a couple people throughout the rest of the race. Fun time none the less.

It was great to get out for one last race, but with the way that the late fall and summer went, I feel like my season ended in August. Which is a shame, as I've really enjoyed the late season mountain biking and cross racing of the past couple of years. Hopefully next year turns out a little better for my late season training and racing.

Speaking of training, pretty hard to train for that ski race in the end of February with no snow. Someone tell Mother Nature that it's time to flip the switch to winter!

Badger Cross Sunday

Lap 1 of the 45+ race at Badger Cross, on Sunday

sunny, windy, about 40'F

pulled out of my left pedal at the start = bummer!

the video doesn't really do justice to how hard the hills are
with my Garmin it measured at 165' of climbing per lap
and some of the "grease"/mud was actually "brown ice" - more slippery than it looks!

more laps to be posted soon, I hope (we did 5)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTWStPqjLs

Jingle Cross Rock, Friday

Part 1 (lap 1) is up
it'll be a while before I get the rest "published"

man it looks dry!
(after workin' on Sunday and Saturday's GoPro videos, in reverse order...)

and when I get to the laps that occur after sunset? don't worry
the lighting was better in real life than it looks in the video! (at spots on the course)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga7S8OJb0bo

Sunday (Jingle Cross Rock) podium shot

Jingle Cross Rock, Saturday 45+

raining
muddy
windy
maybe 45'F

here we go again!

Part 1 (lap 1) of 4

http://www.youtube.com/user/GregFerg123?feature=mhee#p/u/3/8iZFTdqqI-0

sloggin' race, exciting finish...