Winter Races

Well, it has been a while since the crew posted. So what have we been up to?

Racing our bikes in the snow! Well, three times for most of us, and just a couple times for the rest of us. Nearly all of us have struggled to find our snow legs. All except for KusetheGuse who appears to have drunk the entire ocean and spit it back out again and somehow gained the power of the sea. He has been showing the rest of the crew what it means to race a bike. Not just pulling out a win but winning convincingly. Natty-Ice has big aspirations for the season though and will be giving Kuse a fierce run for his money as the season gets into full swing. Scraggs is always in contention since he has the power of the mothership. While the rest of us race off the back it has become a race of who can find the most time to get on the bike these days.

Well, that's all that is really new with the SPH Crew.

GCSSC 2012

Goodhue County Single Speed Championship

The day is fast approaching. This Sunday is the Goodhue County Single Speed Championship. Ol' Scraggs is the reigning champion. (I still have hopes of getting him into a tight pink girls small t-shirt that I have written on.) This year he has some real competition gunning for him. Pollywog Kusethegoose will be nipping at his heels trying to take that dainty t-shirt away from him. A emerging adolescent with a lack of respect for authority and even less respect for his boss Natty-Ice will be making his bid to be the GC Single Speed Champion. Some out of towners will be attempting to make a claim on foreign land, Red Beard and Cabin Boy will be making their presence known. Blackbeard and Lar-Dog will be in the mix bound to cause a ruckus and spur some fierce racing. Trailing behind all these scallywags will be the Asian Express which is anything but. He will be attempting to finish this year on a ship that has yet to see the open seas. There is a good chance that she won't even float...Only time will tell and soon we will know who our 2012 GCSS Champion will be.

SPH CX #5

With a small crew aboard sphcx went on.  Some may have felt like they were dragging anchors others just felt like the serpentine of death was the plank that had to be walked in to the deep blue.  With the sphcx booty in the trunk sph had to compromise.  Dragging some some barriers from the weeds and Natty-ice coming up clutch with his version of a barrier, we made due.  Final results:

Jake
Matt
Larry

Looks like this week will see the return of more of the crew.

SPHCX #4

Back to TBMS... and a return of the PINWHEEL OF DEATH...

It was a larger than normal crew out for the late afternoon Sunday 'cross battle. The Saturday rains didn't really soften the concrete like course so it was another fast, hard battle.

Job had one of his patented sprints from the gun and got the "hole shot" with Matt in hot pursuit. He quickly passed Job and he never looked back. There was a solid battle for second-fourth place though as Elliott and Isaac were in touch for most of the race and Job was just a bit behind them. Larry was doing his thing in 5th with Bill and Ray rounding out the field.

Results

1- Matt
2 - Elliott
3 - Isaac
4 - Job
5 - Larry
6 - Bill
7 - Ray (Roy)

He was 10 feet tall.... with beautiful hair...

Night riding... or in this case... early morning riding.... no other time while mountain biking is as peaceful. The silence (other than my heavy breathing and assorted bike noises - I thought SS was supposed to be quiet!) allows contemplation about what is important in the world... or maybe just time to completely veg out and try to think of a song other than that goofy Gotye one...

Then the mind starts to get a bit too busy. Not thinking about anything in particular other than "you are being watched". Maybe I'm alone in this, but when I am riding in the dark solo I inevitably get to the point where I KNOW that there is some man or beast about 10 feet off the trail just watching. Sometimes it's just a deer in my head (and this is probably actually something that DOES happen). Bats and other small varmints darting around just adds to the heightened sense of impending attack by random animal that isn't native to the Red Wing area.

Added into the mix this time was the fact that earlier in the week a couple of escapees from the Correctional Facility probably traversed the bluff on their run for freedom.

 

Would someone convicted of burglary or assault think twice about knocking me off my bike with a big stick and then taking the Waltworks to Mexico? Granted the gearing is not set-up for a trans-continental trip, so he/she would not be able to make too hasty of a get-away... but still. STICK TO THE HEAD! Yep... my brain is awesome.

THEN.... right when I was finally thinking... "ok, you... there is nothing in the woods"... I round a corner in the ski trail (bypassing the log drop at this witching hour)... WHAT WAS THAT!!!! ???? !!!! Some sort of huge shape seems to quickly move off of the trail just before my lights can really catch what it was/if anything was there... I'm not saying I saw a bigfoot... but I saw something (or nothing... just fun to say that I saw something). The rest of the ride I swore I could hear tree knocks and other bigfooty things.

So... what have I learned?

1) Lots of leaves down on the trail so watch for that.
2) My bike needs the chain to be cleaned and for the front brake to be looked at for dragging.
3) Riding up on Memorial in the dark is sweet.
4) There may or may not be a skunkape up on Sorin's Bluff.

Chillin...

As the weather gets cooler the thoughts stray to night rides, cross races, snow races, snow riding, skiing, gravel rides, races next summer... I do like fall! (other than the darned leafers)