It’s safe to say that Molly Cameron is the sole reason that Sal and I are the ‘cross fanatics that we are. She probably doesn’t know this, but it’s true.
In 2006 I started reading her blog and eventually gave into the intrigue. It was the first place I’d read the word “cyclocross”. It was the […]
Last week, reader Guy Smith of the Crossniacs forwarded me a link to this article in the New York Times. In the first paragraph, the author quotes a former coach who once told him, “Pedal until you taste blood.”
I liked that.
I thought about it a lot.
The perfect’cross race is composed of a lot of things, […]
Breaking the bird’s neck seems like a bad omen but I remind myself that I believe neither in omens nor birds.
Still, when I feel the bone snap under me, my heart drops into my gut and my sentence stops inside my mouth, without bothering to find a period.
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Mile 35: I hate Natalie Ramsland’s guts.
Not because she climbs like a scared monkey, or because she’s the primary reason I am stuck on this mountain pushing gears, but because she knows what to expect next. She’s done a pre-ride.
Who is she to know what agony lies around the next corner? Who is she to […]
12 hours in a conference chair and I’m at my wits end.
I have been eating Nectar Bars and apples stolen from the hotel lobby display. Cottage cheese from the grocery store. Baby carrots. This trip is going down on the cheap.
I just tell myself it’s like I’m backpacking and the justification offers a little […]
I fly into the Denver airport over a pancake flat landscape and think: “Wait, did I accidentally get on a plane to Kansas?”
The mountains are hiding beyond the windows on the other side of the plane. I am heading to a Writer’s Conference in Boulder after a last minute decision. I learned about the conference […]
I’ve never done a time trial before, but I like the concept. Go out by yourself, as hard as you can. You and the clock. That’s it.
There’s no messy peloton, no pulling or drafting or breaking away. Just straight-up pain. As much as you can take.
I’m nervous. On the trainer before the race I open […]
Training: dialed.
Pre-race jitters: virtually none.
Warmup: decent
Hydration: pegged.
Nutrition: on the money.
I’m feeling good. Really good.
Even as I am taking my bike off the trainer and complaining to Greg about how much goddam production "this stupid sport requires" I am still feeling good. I roll around with Kristin a few times.
We line up.
The race starts.
And […]
At mile 54, Steve Brown rolls up to me with his big three million dollar grin.
"How ya feelin’?"
There is no room for pretense at this point, no room for bravado. I checked my ego at the door after the 26 mph "warmup".
"Steve. I am in so much pain. I want to chop my legs off […]
Does anyone remember the story of the Little Match Girl?
The tale is often edited (as many of Hans Christian Andersen’s tales are) into Disney-esque happiness because we can’t bear to expose our children to the reality that sometimes little, poor girls freeze to death in the middle of winter.
If you missed the real version of […]
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