On the DL

Brought Kaibab home from the vet today. He's been there all week since he blew both of his rear ACL's last weekend. He had his first reconstruction surgery on Friday and he seems to be doing pretty well. He is on some pretty strong drugs as far as I can tell from the glassy eyes with the blown pupils. He's all highed up on something...

This period of forced immobility is going to be he perfect time to put ol' Kaibab on a diet. For those of you who aren't familiar with Kaibab, he is rounding portly and making a beeline for obese with his sights set on trapped inside the house huge. He's just hard-wired to eat as much as he can get into his mouth since he was abandoned on the Navajo Reservation as a puppy. The stories about everything he has eaten are legend in my circle of friends, but suffice it to say, when as a puppy I caught him eating a Coke can, I decided then and there that I would never rush him to the vet over him eating something he shouldn't. Now that may sound cruel, but he is still very much alive and kicking and he has eaten more than his fair share of disgustingly unpalatable and downright "what made you think that was something to eat?" stuff.

So now we embark on the big push to rediscover the slim and trim Kaibab that we once took on epic mountain bike rides and trail runs. I'm sure he is still there buried underneath all of that pudge.

Sloppy seconds

My attitude for today was to just see what happened. I lined up, the official said,"Riders ready!", everyone hunched forward, the whistle blew and we were off. I banged bars with the guys on either side of me for several pedal strokes, but the entire time I was thinking, "Look for the holes... Find the holes..." I squirted through and out of the group, getting the hole shot. From then on I just concentrated on keeping the pressure on and staying in the lead group.

For some reason, everything came together and I had a phenomenal race, finishing 2nd. Jeff finished 2nd in the Masters race. Bob Pugh had a strong race, but I'm not sure of his placing. Scott Staley raced for his first cyclocross race today. Chris Behrmann was racing with the big boys in the Pro 1,2,3 class. Howard Hesterberg did both the Masters and the CX4 races! I'll update with their placings as soon as I hear from the fellas!

Now I'm gonna pass out.

Eve of 'cross

Like a lot of the people around these parts, I get as giddy as a little girl getting her first set of RealTree overalls when opening day of the season comes. Unlike a lot of the people around these parts, my season doesn't involve freezing your butt off out in the elements while wearing ridiculous looking clothing in order to kill a defenseless animal. Okay, so my season doesn't involve the killing a defenseless animal part, but everything else is pretty spot on.

Tomorrow marks the preseason opener of the NC 'cross season. The race is at the tried and true Salisbury venue. Due to the inordinate amount of soaking, misting rain the course should be good and muddy. Perfect 'cross conditions. Now only if the temperature will drop and stay down, it will be proper 'cross conditions. I think that long days of walking and standing, coupled with a higher than average daily intake of alcohol over the course of our time spent in Vegas should prove to be a formidable preparation for tomorrow's race.

coffee

If they realized how much we need coffee, this line would get out of our way.

Pro Men on the line.

$500 prime on the first lap! Crash in first turn. $10,000 purse, 30 deep, 60 laps.

Pro Men callups!

Vegas Industry Cup race underway.

women's race in progress

The notorious turn claims another one.

heading to the crit

Vegas Crit!

I believe we will be moseying on down to the USA Crit finals here shortly. Stay tuned.

Luna Cycles shop kits!

Here is the almost final version of the Luna Cycles shop kit. No pricing yet, but let us know if you want one. They should be available by the beginning of December, just in time for CX Nationals!

A whole heap o'BMC mtn. bikes

fuji tri/tt bike

Luna Cycles kits!

Now taking pre--orders!

It's all about clothing

Gary from Sugoi translates our incoherent rambling into art.

Wake up

I'm in the dark waiting for everybody else to wake up, so we can start the day. I need breakfast, preferable something big and greasy. Brian's horse snoring woke me up about 2 hours ago, so I just got up and stayed up.

'Cross Vegas is not a great race to spectate at. It's pretty easy to lose sight of the big picture and then it just becomes guys on bikes whizzing past. It is, however, a great place to run into all kinds of people that you know and haven't seen in a while. Today should prove to be more of the same on that front.

Today is appointment day, so we will be hustling around doing bidness like the wheelers and dealers that we aren't. I'll also be grabbing every poster I can get my hands on and hopefully getting some autographs. I'm still hunting for Phil Ligget's autograph. I got get his soon while he still remembers his name...

Brian Fox...the lost recordings.

Turn volume to 11!

this town smells like a big cigarette

Lance still ain't in it!