STAMPEDE!

Congrats Milica - Taking home the win at DAS Beaver Cross!

@clockworkted could give a clinic on how to take a handup. 

Ice Weasels Cometh - 12/8/2012

What a weekend! Freezing cold winds and 2 challenging courses were on tap in Sterling and Stampede hit the ground rollin! 

Sean took the top step on Day 1 in impressive fashion, breaking away from the lead group on the last lap and rollin it in for the cat 3 win. Then on Day 2, Eric managed to chase down the lead group of 3, picking off a fading Landry’s rider on the last lap to claim the 3rd pla

Pixxx from the 2012 CX season so far. 

Dan on his way to murder some gypsies crush the Cat 3 field. 

More photos from Cycle-Smart International CX in NoHo. 

Photos from the Canton Cup

Thanks @BikeAbel!

More photos from #MRCCX here: 

http://velotopia.christopherraia.net/?p=154 

winner winner chicken dinner

Pics from Gloucester and beyond

Look at us! 

@ Sucker Brook

9/23/2012

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151435912484768.589029.749399767&type=1 

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one, is a lot of hard work.- Stephen King

Hard work. That pretty much sums up what cycling is. Work that is harder than anything else you’ll ever do; its mentally and physically exhausting. We’re ecstatic when things go well for us, and devastated when things go wrong. I’ve seen both ends and try really hard not to let one get the best of the other.

The past two weekends for me have been a real challenge. My season started off quite well, then I hurt my hip, then REALLY hurt my shoulder. I was down but was able to rest up and buck up. Eventually I was alright. Obsticals overcame, right? Wrong.

There was racing to be done. 

Last year, as a category 4 cyclocross racer, racing was easy at times. My natural abilities were greater than some of the other riders. I already had the suffer factor, the ability to sprint, and the ability to go 40 minutes of toe-to-toe racing. 

Category 3 is certainly different. Sure, I’m still fast; if not faster and I can put some nice gaps on people when allowed to put the power down but everyone is a step higher, a bit better at technical stuff than myself, and can suffer nearly as much as I can. Category 3 is nothing to scoff at. 

So, when I have a tough day, its magnituded by the fact that rather than finishing 15th on a bad day, I’m finishing 20th. Or whatever. This past weekend, I was so upset with the fact that I finished 13th in a 31 finisher field I didn’t know what to do with myself. My frustration was visible to my teammates who said, “this is part of training, you stuck in there and that’s part of it. You need to learn what you’re successful at and what you are not.”

True - I am for sure the cyclocross/road rider rather than the cyclocross/mountain biker type. Some courses are going to be all mine, some are not. I need to live with that or buy a mountain bike (probably never going to happen).

Then, Sunday, I was able to grab a top 10 in a Cat3 race and all my frustration from a month’s worth of work was gone. Sometimes, all it takes is knowing that you still have *it*.

Though, not all of us were happy with our day. Friend of STAMPEDE! Jon was frustrated saying that he didn’t have the pop he needed to close gaps and get to where he needed. I tried to console him and say it’ll come back; it’ll be there. But I know that those words fell of deaf ears. Results are the end all be all for most of us - which is sad but true. 

Personally, I’ve started to find that its how you react to your hardships that makes you a stronger rider. When we started as beginners in all types of racing, we grappled with pain and overcoming that. As we progress, we encounter others who are faster, stronger, smarter than us. And we, as the individual, need to learn to cope, and find a way around that rider one way or another. 

Racing can be streaky. You might have it for a weeks, and then lose it. As someone who has started to see both sides of it all I can say is; enjoy the good times because there will be bad ones. In the end, it’ll all level out.

ericbaumann:

Kurt runnin 2nd and pullin away!!! (Taken with Instagram)

ericbaumann:

Kurt takes home 2nd in the 3 race!! (Taken with Instagram at Auburn Village School)

mooonz:

The Wayne’s World Band - Pain Cave

So we should play this at every cx race. 

(via juli4)

This played at the start of the men’s 4 race at Quad. #getsleazy