So Stoked!

We got an early start on the day. Gio, Beth, and I packed into a little itty-bitty Mazda with a weeks worth of clothing & equipment plus an endless supply of wheels (I am estimating 8 or 9 total) plus 6 bikes......it was the clown car. The trip felt really short as compared with my LA trip early in August for Road Nationals; I had entertainment, or rather I spent most of the time talking about nothing in particular. I think there were a few too many X chromosomes in the car for Gio.

BEST part of the day: A CANDY FEED. Thats right. We were sitting in LA traffic (surprise!) and this dude was eating a huge bag of candy, which I subsequently pointed out to my carpool buddies. When it was then decided that we should ask for some. Yes, we got a candy feed. Car to car. 2 Bubble Gum balls - delicious and entirely worth the 6hr drive.

The track was scary, but fun. Felt good. Had a little bit of a slip in corner number 1 when I was trying to go up track and apparently didn't have enough speed. I slipped enough to scare the crap out of me, but thanks to my mad bike handling skills :) I kept it upright. The bad part was that I thought I was going fast enough. The corners were awesome, although I lose way to much momentum for my liking.

Anyway, Mass Start Test tomorrow! I am excited to ride more on this bad-boy of a track. I am here and "doin' it!"

Its done

Well, not quite done. But registering for Track Nats was a big step. I will be racing the:
Mass Start Test
3km pursuit
Points Race
Scratch Race
Team Pursuit

Should be a busy, and I should learn a lot. First time at ADT, first time at a big track race, it will be easy peasy - no different from the olden days of swim meets.

There has been a drought of updates, maybe it is due to the fact that I was in the desert where no human civilization (or for that matter, any type of living organism) was ever meant to live. Yes, that is right, the most un-sustainable pocket ever to be created by human kind: Las Vegas.

Interbike 2008 was this past week. I helped out with the Terry Precision booth. Abbie should have been a lawyer, because I don't know how she convinced me to return to Vegas (after Interbike 2007). At any rate, she must be very persuasive.

Despite the "circus" of Vegas and the unfortunate phenomena that Vegas sucks every ounce of water and ATP out of you, I had a great time seeing a lot of my old friends from back east. It was a whirlwind and I am just decompressing. There is so much to write about but I am going to dedicate this entry (and my current train of thoughts) to 'nostalgia'.

In the end I am super happy that I went to Vegas: I miss the amazing people of Terry and I am honored that they asked me to help show their new product line for 2009. The Terry people have a great energy and a love for the sport of cycling that goes beyond just turning the pedals. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see everyone again; it is the best feeling to know that even though I am thousands of miles away, my support network is still there.

"Wake Up"

"Something filled up my heart with nothing.
Someone told me not to cry.

But now that I'm older, my heart's colder,
and I can see that it's a lie.

Children wake up.
Hold your mistake up,
before they turn the summer into dust.

If children don't grow up,
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We're just a million little gods causing rain storms turning every good thing to rust.
I guess we'll just have to adjust!

With my lightning bolts a-glowing
I can see where I am going to be when the reaper he reaches and touches my hand.

With my lightning bolts a-glowing,
I can see where I am going.

With my lightning bolts a-glowin'
I can see where I am, go-go, where I am.
You'd better look out below!"
-Arcade Fire "Wake Up"
(also found in the playlist to the right)

Rose Long (Please Read)

As cyclists, the inherent dangers of the road are a reality for all of us. We are a community of risk-takers for the love of a common sport. That is why it is important to support each other when the need arises.

roselong.com

Here is a note from Chris:

"Last week, one of my best friends on the UVM Cycling Team, Rose Long,was hit by a car. The driver failed to yield, was driving with a suspended license, had no insurance, and fled the scene of the crime. Rose, on the other hand, was badly injured. She suffered a broken jaw, nose, wrist, and forehead, lost nearly all of her teeth,punctured a lung, and the Jeep's roof rack ripped numerous lacerations into her face. She has been in the hospital now for over a week and has had numerous intense surgeries. Although she will be okay in the long run, the accident has obviously been extremely traumatic. The accident has forced her to withdraw from the semester of classes. She will miss out on the entire Mountain Bike season, where she races Dual Slalom, Downhill, and Cross Country, most notably placing in the top 6in nearly each category at nationals last year. She is also an avid road racer, and actually managed to win the Women's Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Overall in a truly dominating fashion last semester.

Why am I reaching out to you with this story? Rose Long is perhaps the best person I have ever had a chance to meet. Extremely talented,enthusiastic, optimistic, caring, and headstrong, her only request from those around her in the hospital has been "don't talk about bad stuff." She has always been a hero to me, and now she needs my help.Although the driver who hit Rose did turn himself in two days later,he was also uninsured, and the medical bills are going to be piling up. Although the UVM Cycling team and Vermont cycling community have banded together to give her support (half the team and numerous news stations attended the arraignment of her assailant, while some of the team has not left her bedside) she needs all the support possible. UVM Cycling has set up a support webpage for Rose, with information detailing what happened and her recovery. There is also a place for people to donate or send her well wishes if they desire.

Please do not think I am merely trying to get people to donate to her.Rose would kill me if I did that. I am, however, trying to spread the word about what happened to her, and take this seemingly personal incident to the largest level of publicity possible. I have NEVER met anyone with so much love for our sport or determination as her, and she only deserves the best. If you could email her website around to those in the cycling community you may know, I would be eternally grateful, and I know that Rose would be too.

Sincerely,
Christopher Worden."

Whirlwind of Amazing

This past weekend has been incredibly busy and fun. My Mom and Uncle came to visit - just in time for some very low-key (and "low-key" is an understatement) track racing which was juxtaposed to the San Francisco Twilight criterium.

Saturday consisted of:
-500meter "time trial" (I believe that's what it is called - its 500meters by yourself on the track) which can be described as a mess :)

-3km pursuit/time trial - not much to be said there either. (CA State Champion....)

-My very first Keirin - not as scary as I anticipated, but maybe because this past week I did my first motorpacing session on the track in which I was "all up on" the roller....the motor just wasn't going fast enough! Anyway, the Keirin was fun and you can expect to see me do more of that in the future.

**San Francisco Twilight Criterium! What, What?!?! So fun. Huge crowds. Lots of energy. A stacked women's field and the hammer was down. Pedal to the metal, fast and furious - now that was some 'high quality' racing. I threw an attack super early in the race, rode solo for awhile, and then was gobbled up by the field. Shelley went in the counter, which stayed away for most of the race, but was sucked back in with no warning with 2.5laps to go. And that's when things went wild. Shelley had great position and a great sprint - she won! Me? Well, I had bad positioning going into the last lap, and there were chances I just wasn't willing to take, but I pulled out a 9th. Considering that I was probably 25 back going into the last lap when it was strung out single file, I am not too disappointed. My legs were there.

Sunday:

-Team Pursuit: Gold medalists :) We practiced some good exchanges.

-Scratch Race: Rode with the men where I had the opportunity to practice spinning my legs really fast. Riding with men can be fun, but not so fun when they 'slam' down into you when you are in the 'pull lane' (I believe its 'pull' and not 'pole' - correct me if I am wrong), thank goodness for my catlike reactions and a nice forgiving apron which allowed me to ride along until I got my bearings again. "BUT THAT'S JUST ONE OF THEM RACIN' DEALS!"

Hahahaha! Yea, the scratch race was fun. Iwill be doing more of those.

I had a lot of pedaling time this weekend. Then I got to come home to a barbeque with the family - I couldn't ask for anything more!

Monday:

Trip to Santa Cruz with my Mom and some excellent Mexican food. Mhhmmhhmmmh, what a nice dinner will do for you!

It would appear that I prefer to blog in bullet points now. I think its a cop out to story telling. I am so darn busy I don't have time for stories! But I do have time for jokes.......maybe I can make this blog into a joke forum.

San Francisco Twilight Criterium Pictures:

Rolling Solo:

Flying Solo. This corner was so fast!

Neat angle.

(Yea, I just said 'neat'. What are you going to do about it?)

The field is somewhere back there......

Getting ready to get sucked back up:

New Toys

Slowly but surely this 'track' thing is coming together.

I have some blingin' new equipment:

of course nothing is complete.....yet......

I am learning the ropes at the track at the same speed things are coming together equipment-wise. It appears that converting my time-trial bike into a track bike has been the equivalent of fitting a square peg in a round hole.