A Failed Attempt at Misdirection

I'm not sure if I have any intention of doing a proper Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race report at all. I mean, it's five days of stuff to talk about, and each day, aside from the first were long days. The short of it is that it started out really crappy and got progressively better each day. Coming off of the Breck Epic just two weeks prior did weird things to me I think. I did ride in-between the two races and I did make some efforts, but I came into the prologue at Pisgah feeling both tired and flat. What I did have was the psychological edge, I knew that I could pedal my bike every day for five days and not completely die. Shit, I could pedal for six. Actually if the PMBSR were six days long, I would have done slightly better. My best performance came on the final day when I got 8th overall, beating all the Masters 40+ Elites but one, all the single-speeders, all the women, and a couple guys who were in my stacked field. On second thought, that's bullshit. I got sick on the fifth night and woke up feeling like a Vesuvius of mucus. If I had started a sixth day feeling like that, I would have been one hurtin' gator-unit. That's the expression right?

So what I'm going to do once again is post a bunch of videos and talk (hopefully) briefly about them. I've got a bunch of loose ends to deal with and my blogging time is scarce.

A couple days of lying sick on the couch has allowed me to catch up on some stuff, stuff like Cannondale Factory ride Alex Grant's helmet-cam videos from the Breck Epic. This is the longest but by far the best one. If you want to see more of his vids, go HERE. It's awesome because, first off, it was an amazing stage. We went over French Pass up at twelve-thousand somethin' feet. There was snow, I think we were in a cloud, it was truly epic. Another reason why it's awesome is because Alex was in contention for the win, he chases Jeremiah Bishop right to the line as Bishop virtually levitates over the singletrack.

Breck Epic Stage 3 French Pass, Alex Grant Helmet-Cam:

Visit beta.cyclingdirt.org for more Videos

Further evidence that I have had some actual down time to do the thing the people call "surfing the internet," a video from Fail Blog of a kid eating massive shit helmetlessly attempting to jump a dry creek bed. The finest moment, for me, is when, after shearing the head tube off his bike, and devouring an all you can eat buffet of dirt, he says: "The chain came off."




Oh ya, before I forget...
the above photo, at the top of the post there, that's from Brad O Allen's blog. He's got more great shots of the PMBSR course over on his site, they really capture the awesomeness of the trails.



And before I go on to introduce more distracting videos, I want to say that I also finally got a chance to read Colby Pearce's Breck Epic blogs on Cyclingnews and they are GOOD. OK, I may have initially dismissed them, before having read them, as the very serious race reports of a very serious racer-dork. I was wrong. After spending nigh on a week staying in a house with Colby I realized that, however serious he may be about bike racing, he is not really that serious about anything else, and that comes across in his posts big time. And I'll be damned if his post about his stage win on the final day isn't one of they most inspirational fucking things I have ever read.

And this, this was something I picked up of the Facebooks. I am blown away at how far cycling-film cinematography has come. I saw the same progression with Skateboard and Snowboard films — each endeavor getting more polished and aesthetically awe-inspiring. This trailer raises bar, I cannot wait to see this freaking film.

Life Cycles Trailer:

Life Cycles OFFICIAL Trailer from Life Cycles on Vimeo.

And speaking of aesthetically awe-inspiring...
I meant to post this when it was slightly more timely (but still after half the world had seen it). But, if you're like me and you ambulate around the internet like you have a 56k modem, this will come as a pleasing shock to you.

Rapha Continental | B2B | Boston, MA to Windsor, VT

Rapha Continental | B2B | Boston, MA to Windsor, VT from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Although the video below is old news, it is worth another viewing, especially now that it is Cross season. My favorite moment comes about 1:20 in, when the dude trials/rolls a log on his CX bike. Wicked. Another aspect of this video that appeals to me is the lack of soundtrack and the use of bike/nature sounds. With the helmet cam stuff I'm doing, that really isn't an option, all you'd hear is loud wind-noise and horrible rattling; not crunching pine needles and a light breeze blowing through the tall grass.

Local Trails Ala CX:

Local trails ala cx from Andy Wardman on Vimeo.

Tomorrow: maybe we'll talk about how I won't be doing the Vermont 50 this year and how it's tearing me up inside like I swallowed a live ferret. I might work some more yammering about Pisgah in there too.