The 2009 SoCal District Championships were at the deluxe Home Deport Center Velodrome in Carson, CA. on June 13-14. I signed up for the 40-44 kilo and the 40-44 sprints. My focus for the event was the kilo. I trained for it and it worked out ok, not as good as I hoped but I did set a PR at 1:17:36. That was good for 6th out of 8. The winner rode a 1:10:00 - yeah, he was hauling. In the sprint qualifier I rode a 12.65 flying 200. I was a little off - that was the first time I rode a flying 200 on that track. I should have gotten a little more aggressive on the gearing. In any case, I got beat in the 1st round by a guy that was just as fast as I was. I stuck with my strategy of trying to ride from the back and do a sneak attack. As I readied for the launch I watch my opponent carefully. With 250 to go I was ready to attack. We went through 1 and exited 2. My plan was to launch as soon as he turned his head away from looking at me. Sure enough as soon as he turned his head I hit it and he did too! Crap stick! I went all out in an attempt to get around him and I got up next to him slightly by the finish line. Grrr. Next time things will be different.
Up next…CYCLOCROSS!!!

According to TMZ Michael Jackson is dead at age 50.

I was ultra-lucky and got a ticket for game 1 from my boss. He couldn’t make it to the game so I went with 3 others. It was a blast. I last went to the Finals in 2002 when the Lakers took on the Sixers. When we got to the Staples Center we parked and walked over to the LA Live. It’s a massive complex of restaurants and bars across the street from the Stapler. First stop was the Yard House. We got in and found that it was packed solid. No chance of getting a table before game time. Ditching that scene we walked over to the Fox Sky Box and waited in line a few minutes for a table. The line didn’t move at all so we elected to just go to the bar and have a few cold ones. About 20 minutes til tip off we left the bar and headed into the Stapler. It was just a short walk to the seats. The place was abuzz with excitement. Yellow was everywhere. We got a fresh one and took our seats. Show time! The first two quarters were mostly going the Lakers way. The Magic had a few successful pick-n-rolls but their 3-point attack was off. At halftime we refreshed the beers and walked around a little bit. The concourse was stuffed with people.
Back to our seats for the 2nd half. Kobe was fired up. He put on a clinic in the 3rd quarter and the Lakers effectively shutdown the Magic’s inside attack. The 4th was a cruise and the Lakers took the victory 100-75. Game #2 is Sunday. Let’s see how Orlando adjusts to the Lakers potent offense AND defense.

1927 Dodge 4-Door Sedan Hot Rod by Sasse van Essen, originally uploaded by Pixeleye Interactive // Dirk Behlau.

Someday I’ll build up something like this. Damn!!!

The SoCal Masters State Championships are just around the corner. This year the event will be at the deluxe ADT Event Center Velodrome. I’ll be riding the kilo, match sprints, and the team sprint. If you’ve never been to ADT you’re really missing out. That track is a blast.

I rode the 36.48 miles from Palmdale to Santa Clarita this morning along Sierra Highway. Hopped on the train at the Via Princessa station with 1 minute to spare, avoiding the death trap area near the 5/14 junction, and then rode the rest of the way from the San Fernando/Sylmar station to Chatsworth.
Distance pedaled: 48.36 miles
Average Speed: 20.4 mph
Riding time: 2 hrs 21 minutes 31 seconds
Flat tires: 1
Total commute time: 3 hours 2 minutes

This speaks for itself. Baba Booey fa fa flo high tanked the first pitch. Howard Stern and the crew absolutely demolished him for most of the show. He deserved it. Artie Lange was in rare form. It’s good that he is off the junk and back on track.

If you are concerned about the swine flu you should go to this site immediately if not sooner.

Do I have pig flu?

Two weeks ago I raced in the old man category in the Chuck Pontius Memorial Criterium in Santa Clarita. The 40+ 3/4 is the perfect category for me. No former world champions or ex-Olympians here, just regular guys that like to go fast(ish).
Before the race started I got signed up and said hello to a few people I knew. There was about 40 minutes til race time when I broke a spoke on my back wheel. Super Crap! I don’t have extra wheels for my road bike so I was in need of help. I found Bicycle John and asked if he had a space, no dice. He started looking for my fellow Bicycle John’s teammate Irene. I went the other way and found a few CX racer chicks and asked for a wheel. No goods there at that time. I went back to where my wife-n-kids were set up and Bicycle John was standing there with a wheel. YES! I was up and riding with about 10 minutes to go. I got in the best warm up I could and made to the starting line. There were at least 50 competitors ready to go. As we were waiting for the official to give his speech another official said to do another warmup lap. Cool with me! We came back around and I lined up in the back. The official gave us the usual deal and blew his whistle. Here we go.
The 1st lap was the usual deal, everyone settling in and getting up to speed. The 2nd lap was a little more exciting. Around turn 2 I was following two Major Motion guys. The one in front pulled his left foot out of his pedal and went way wide taking his teammate with him. Holey moley! I thought things were going to get spicy in a bad way for a second. No worries, everyone stayed up and kept going. There were numerous solo attacks - kinda funny if you ask me. How many cat 3/4’s can go solo into the wind up a slight incline with 49 people chasing them? The answer? None. This middle laps were good - fast and pretty uneventful. There was one guy out there that defined “fred” in a bad way. He was all over the place and he repeatedly put himself in a bad position. He was riding up too close to people, overlapping wheels, etc. I thought for sure he was going to stack a few times so I quickly decided to get as far away as possible. I moved out into the wind on the downhill stretch after turn 4 and moved up to mid-pack. Squirrly-Man couldn’t get me up here.
Once we got the 5 to go sign I started my deal. I moved up a few spots when things opened up after turn 2. This was a right hander into the wind so the front of the peloton was getting hit hard with the headwind and this allowed a few gaps to open so I took each one into the next 2 laps. Once the 2 to go sign was up I hammered (hahaa - comedy) down the side of the peloton and got a sweet spot near the front on the inside. Coming out of turn 3 towards 4 is a slight rise. Being on the inside here is a key position. This side of the peloton was sheltered from the crosswind. 1 to go! As we barreled down past the start/finish the final time I was actually feeling really good. I was about 4 rows back from the front on the inside and ready for the sprint. Coming around the 3 to 4 turns I turned it on and made it up even closer to the front. Once we hit the straight I started to go and the 3 guys in front of me sorta went and fizzled. The left side was blocked, crap, so was the right! I had to glass-pedal for a moment and go to my right and then get it on. I passed about 5 or 6 and ended up 13th. With a little luck I know for sure I can improve on that.
My wife commented afterwards,”That was like the old days, you were in the race!” Right! Just like the old days. I had such a good time I am now going to find a few more crits to race during the summer. The ultimate goal this year is a serious attempt at CX fitness. I am really going to focus and get after it and shoot for a top 10 finish overall in the 35+ 3/4 category. If anyone wants to send me a new cx bike let me know. I’ll fly any sponsors colors in a serious way!