It has been a week and change since I got back from Switzerland and dove head first into the new school year. The sheer volume of brain power required to get all of one's ducks in a row for the new school year is unbelievable. I found it easier to take a break from posting in order to conserve the precious few brain cells that I have left as they were starting to get crispy and needed to be babied if I had any hope of keeping them with me.
Now that I have emerged from the stress cave, I'm ready to dive into the pain cave. Hell yes boys and girls, cyclocross season is inching towards us with the ferocity of a CX4 field approaching the barriers on the first lap. Jeff and I have been hard at work procuring, finagling and building this season's 'cross machines for our personal assaults on the NC Cyclocross series! We have gotten everything pretty well built up and have stepped up our efforts with some new bits and modifications.
We are now both sporting SRAM brake levers sans ft. shifter mechanisms since we both run single ring setups. The removal is fairly easy once you get past the whole "holy crap - I'm taking this thing apart" phase of the process. Tomorrow we start gluing and taping tubulars to our respective carbon wheels. I'll post pics of both bikes in full race livery once they are complete so that I can go completely over the top and reveal myself as the deep down, hardcore bike geek that I am!
Suffice it to say that Jeff and I both have taken our love of 'cross up to a level that can best be described as a missionary-like zeal. To further the madness, we have taken to proselytizing the joys and benefits of the single ring setup and are attempting to convert all who wander into our path. We are maintaining our dignity though and have not followed our brother-in-arms Preacher Todd has he wanders the lonely path of the singlespeed 'cross rig!
Besides cyclocross (only 53 days 'til Race #1!), we have the Lenoir Triathlon this saturday, Bridge to Bridge in 3 weeks and then the gathering of bikes, booze and debauchery known as Interbike in Las Vegas! Needless to say, there is a lot of training in multiple disciplines necessary for the upcoming months, but do not fear! We have our noses to the grind stone, our shoes running the trails, our tires on the ground and our glasses filled to the brim with all of the necessary inducements to top cyclocross performance! So get out and run, ride, and drink in hard, fast bursts from now until the cowbells incite you to go harder than your gag reflex will allow, for the best time of the cycling season is swiftly approaching!
Hup! Hup! Hup!
1 comment:
I'm glad to hear you're back to posting. You've got me pumped up for our next season of cyclo-cross and I can't wait to break in the new shoes. It looks like the Frankenbike is going to be on the hunt AGAIN. I'm going to have to come at it with pitchforks and torches for it to ever go away (and no, you and Jeff don't get to lead the angry mob). Oh well, as long as I can keep coming out and racing I don't have much to complain about. Looking forward to it all!
Jack
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