Open call

This upcoming season will be my second season as a recreational cyclist in the Portland area. It could be a great year for learning but only yet suffice to say it, and I usually don't, I need your help.

The only question is how...

Introspective Seasonal Post

Since moving to Portland I've always found my visits in Seattle/Shoreline to be somewhat awkward and short lived, which leads me to my next point. I think this is the first since I moved to Portland that I've felt "at home" in some form or another, and I suppose I can thank the snow. For those not keeping up with the NW weather forecasts, Portland and Seattle have added to the "the weather is going to shit" theory by snowing for nearly three days. Anybody who has lived in either place can attest that if each area has gotten even as little as an hour of good snow, it has been a good year, but 2008 definitely outdid itself by truly leaving both cities, each with both of there singular snowplows, completely incapacitated; and in this case its a good thing.

I came up to Seattle this year with some plans in mind, train a little, try to hang out with friends, this and that but I've finally come to the conclusion that Shoreline is different for me. Its always been a weird little suburb so I might as well go along with it, if only for a little bit and just relax.

In other words, I've been snowed in for roughly four days, been outside twice, and thats just fine.

Cheers world

Winter-hella-tastic

Right now I'm listening to my dad watch the nutcracker, while it continues to snow, after doing very little today.

Yule tide joy if I've ever seen it.

Seattle Break

Seattle has been good thus far although it decided to dump snow like crazy. I've only gone outside once to day and that was to take this picture from my front porch... While I am tempted to take the bike out for a spin I feel as though I may freeze my fingers over again. I still can't feel six of them, thanks to the Portland snow.




This is what I've been doing the past day and a half. Taping, painting, drying, then painting again, and now marveling at my work. Well, mostly marveling there are a few mishaps here and there.




I don't know if it was a need to finish one of the many projects my mother starts and never finishes or the need to paint, yet whatever the reason our hallway is now the color of peanut butter. I'll update on the riding situation later as that should have its own dedicated post.





















A nice accent to an otherwise tapeless existence.

This year in racing

Christmas is fast approaching and now with the Portland Cyclocross season truly at an end I thought it might be a good idea to recap on my accomplishments, where I could improve; one of those compliment sandwiches that I've heard so much about.

Overall racing was good and considering this was my first year I think I did an alright job.

Track:

Starting out on the track is a nice way to get into biking. Theoretically track racing is probably the last type of bicycle racing one would try, after stints with road and maybe cross, but it is Portland and with all the fixed gears everywhere already, one can't help but think what they are actually designed for. I got 3rd as a cat 5 over all in the track bar, so I can't complain too much. Goals for next year: less emphasis on the track with better quality than quantity. I tired myself out so bad over the summer doing races every week, I need to eat alot more next time and make sure I don't destroy myself. Goal: try to be a cat 4

Road/Criterium:

Didn't really get to do any road, but raced a couple of the popular crit races. Crits are mostly fun with a fair amount of pain. I only hope I can maybe me a cat 4 so my field can be bigger. We'll just have to wait and see.

Cross:

I really enjoyed cyclocross. The cross crusade was a great compilation of races and I can see why its so popular in Oregon, not to mention it just hurt less to race it. Great way to stay fit in the winter, and if I had an emphasis this would be it.

I guess thats it?

yes

Today's the last day of the fall term. I still have finals but that shouldn't be too difficult, and I should be in the saddle more.

What really happened these past couple of days

I've noticed lately that I've started many sentence in a title only to end them as the remainder of a post. Today I'll elaborate on that.

Black Friday has come and gone as it always does. Most of the time I get a kick over the people who end up standing in line, and who eventually stampede through the doors but this year was slightly more, how should I put this, forceful

Yes, I can't believe I'm able to say this, somebody died because, NOT FOR, Walmart. These are strange days, and I have no idea how to transition into another subject, so I'll do just that

The house has been treating me well thus far. With Thanksgiving come and gone its nice to relax and understand that certain things can be put aside, for if only, a little a while. I did something I haven't done in a long time and successfully managed to play video-games for hours, again revisiting things can be awkward yet comforting.

Now its 2AM and in my book, officially to late for this

Cheers

It is interesting

to be home

I'm not there

http://app.obra.org/results/event/13315

once again, not there.

OBRA neglected to record my finish the other day at Kruger's. My number's been getting thrashed lately and I'll give them that much, but considering the fact that I'm the only one with a cross vegas jersey, I should stick out a little bit when crossing the slow motion finish line. That and I tend to stick out most of the time. I think I got somewhere around 15, which is good. I can feel the swimming and trainers helping.

Thanksgiving is pretty close, not sure what to think of that.

Not sure what to say

What I'll be doing/thinking in two weeks

http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2008/11/urge.html

This article really spoke to me, there's drive to it that goes beyond petty arguing about what's better and instead reminds me that were all just being creative, but enough of that.

Its been a good week. My mom came down from Seattle the other day and I got a chance to catch up with what's happening in Shoreline. Apparently my sister's overworking herself and my brother continues to live in the clouds, but somehow I'm not incredibly surprised. The last couple of years I've had a tendency to mislabel late fall as winter and dislike it as a whole, but I've come to realize its quite nice. Its one of the few times I really get to see my family and visit shoreline in any consistency, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel strange riding around the town I used to live in but there's a bunch of memories that I get to re-explore and experience; its all strangely comforting.

Swimming is has been beneficial, at least I think it has. The stretching that goes on in the water really counteracts some of the harsh things that can happen on the bike. The last CC is this weekend as well,

word

Broken things

Its been a tough week and a half. Portland did not hesitate to rain the minute Halloween was over, and any ideas of Indian summers should be thrown out the window at this point. CC #6 was not the best in my book. I didn't get any chances to train over the course of the week and finished much farther back then I had hoped. Its an annoying and troubling thought to have your inner monologue go on about how you don't want to compete anymore when your racing. Really doesn't make for good results.

Barton was mostly gravel with a couple patches of mud. My race was one of the first so the course wasn't completely destroyed yet, but near the end it was just plain dangerous. I think right now one of my problems may be steadiness and confidence, at least on gravel. i wanted to speed up, but i also wanted to not fall down, that was the mantra behind that race anyway.

For this week: actual regimented training. It has to be done or else I will not progress... and eating.

Cross thus far

After getting back from Astoria, it dawned on me that the Crusade is now more than halfway over. I have seen some good improvement and I was really happy that I was able to scrape a good finish on Sunday considering the circumstance, what with falling and knocking the wind out of me. The weather indicates a change to the wetter side of things soon which means Barton could be muddy, so far only Alpenrose was rainy but that could change soon enough.

SO, a goal... hoping to reach the top of the C's maybe, possibly, maybe not possibly? I'll be out there doing my damnedist to try, its sure worth a shot.

PSU has treated me well thus far, they all seem like a great bunch of people from a bunch of different backgrounds. There's something humbling about seeing awesome racers from teams like Ironclad, Veloshop, and even The Gentle Lovers, all converging on one plane of racing. I always stress out about training but but I hope I can have some fun on some road rides later this week.

Just have to let go of the past sometimes and keep moving forward.

CC#3: Cold, Foggy, Painful, but not rainy

This was, by a fair margin, my most difficult race thus far. There was the illusion of downhill throughout most of the course, buts lets be honest it was all just one big run up. I was a little out of it because of an inability to train due to a small cold, and I definitely felt it but with a 66 place finish I can't complain

this is of course out of 138 so technically it was middle of the pack.

Off to Astoria soon, I'm almost hoping for rain but I'm not really sure what I think or want anymore.


We shall see!

Time has sprouted wings

Because it has truly been one of the quickest weeks ever. I keep wanting to say that I have a couple days until CC#3 but then I realize its actually only 36 hours away, in where better than scenic and probably unrecognizable Kelso/Longview; one of the many small cities one passes through if heading between Portland and Seattle or vice versa. Despite having made that very trip hundreds of times, this will be the first time I'e actually gotten off at the Kelso exit for a good reason, I suppose there couldn't be a better time than now.

Supposedly nice weather but I'll believe it when I see it.

A good read

the rider
Originally uploaded by dannyfelts

At the suggestion of Justin I decided to read Tim Krabbé's book The Rider and found it one of the more inspiring things I've read. Anyone who has ever raced competitively can relate to this guy, regardless of skill level. Its translated from Dutch so the dialogue comes through a little funny at times but its still a great read.

I had a feeling this may happen

1/2 sick after a race day, but not bedridden which I am happy about, although it's now a chore to breathe efficiently.

And another thing...

http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/tires/special.php?seriesid=23

Ignoring the specifics of that perticular tire I'm curious what a "tubular clincher" actually is, and if it really is what I think it is why isn't the cyclocross world going bonkers and dumping the ever popular tubular set up.

Curious

Just a thought

Ice Cube said it best... Cross Crusade #2

Today was a good day.

Went up to Willsonville this morning, waking up at the bitter hour of 6:50 to make my way to the Second Cross Crusade Race.

Things to note:

~ Course was extremely versatile, with a lot of very fast sections and slow sections. I'm not really sure whether I should be thankful or not but it didn't rain and at most the ground was slightly damp with not too much give. Got incredibly dry throughout the day, again I'm curious how the course faired for the masters considering it was mostly dust by the time they raced.

~ Extremely technical overall, and while there was only two official barriers, there were several sections that could have doubled quite nicely.

~ Where there wasn't mountains of dirt, there were rocks and its only godsend that I didn't flat, considering how many people I saw who did.

Overall Placing: 13th out of 100 and something. A really strong race and proof that I can indeed move up to being a Cat C. I've heard from several people that its not that different but I'll have to see for myself.

We shall see in time.

Pre-race day jitters

Literally!

The Northwest continues to be a harsh mistress with its icy bosom now upon oregon, or, it got really cold really fast. In the past week its gone from being comfortably chilly to full on freezing.

My house isn't responding too well to the extremes in temperature either. It recently decided to drop to the point to where I could see my breath in the morning, so I retaliated by putting plastic over my windows. In short, it kind of works, kind of...

I've been taking it easy the last couple of days preparing for Sundays race. Been doing yoga in the morning and before I go to bed as much as I can, which seems to be helping in little bit. I've also rediscovered my infatuation with running at night wearing only running shorts, shoes, and a tired grin, ( the colder it is, the stranger the looks )...

The second Cross Crusade is tomorrow which is definitely going to be interesting.

http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108907454630463163469.000454e9665dbf5bfe7f3&ll=45.312948,-122.793975&spn=0.007303,0.014656&t=h&z=16


The weather-clowns predict sun tomorrow, coupled with the fact that this looks like a much faster course then Alpenrose was: Note that there is only one barrier in the entire course and many long straightaways. I can only hope its a little slower then it looks.

At least the weather will be nice.

First Cyclocross Race Ever: Alpenrose

Finally happened after a long awaited off season cross finally started today! Rode the beginner men which worked out extremely well, with the exception that I got a flat with about two laps to go. The course was really crazy technical but slow but with quick sections that really helped and kept the pace up.

Mostly comprised up of hay and random debris but by the time the masters men raced it was mostly mud and extremely slippery.

Things to improve on for the next race.

1. Bringing arm warmers, might be worth it.
2. Inflating my tires more, probably the reason I got a flat in the first place.
3. Get top five, or try to win the beginners: I'd like to have that psychological reassurance that I do belong in the C's before jumping up to them. I probably would have finished top 5 today for reference.
4. Get on a team, time to get back on that boat. Veloshop would be really cool or maybe Ironclad.


Figure out strategy and train a little more.


Danny


Other things in my life.


Whoo!

That first post was written while I was waiting in the Apple store at Pioneer Place, so it was definitely rushed a little. Now a real recap...

Today was a good finale to what has been a very busy week. I'm tempted to say that it was almost a little unnerving but when I look back at the actual events that happened and really think it over, I usually just come to the decision that I was just very busy getting things ready. First off got myself slightly more into debt finishing my cross bike just in time for cross crusade. I have no idea where I'm going to scape together some several hundred dollars but I usually find a way so I'm not really that worried, not to mention the Scattante looks awesome, and I think I can officially say its the first bike I've pretty much built up by myself. With a slightly shorter stem I think it just might work perfect.

School has been heating up as well, I had a little scare about whether or not I should drop a class or not but after some careful deliberation I think I'll keep it and just work it out. Film is something that comes and goes in my mind but even though it is a slightly silly major I take solace in the fact that I know I can creatively read and write a little bit more proficiently.

I've also decided to give morning spinning a shot with the stationary bike. Normally I would never be able to do this but for the first time in my college career I'm able to sleep in a little more so why not wake a little earlier and start the day on in the saddle, literally. Supplemented with a little running I should be able to get a pretty good independent training schedule out. All this aside I'm still trying to see if I can get accepted by Veloshop, and at the same tim wondering if I should considering they have no strict training regiment. It's worth a shot in my book, and hey, what could possibly go wrong, ( not sure if thats the right thing to end a post with )

Danny