OFFICIAL: Explanations and Excuses are in order..

I was setting up to write a race recap and realized I was spending more time writing an explanation and excuses on how I ended up racing cyclocross again….. It deserved it’s own post…

The theme of 2017 for me seems to be inspired by a quote made by a friend of mine in his blog:

“Sometimes, life takes your plans and does this:

All I can do is pick up the candy and eat that shit.”

When I txt’d him to make sure it was cool to quote his blog, he was ok with it as long as I also quoted txt conversation:

If you asked me in January 2017 if I’d race cyclocross again, I would’ve laughed at the mere thought and made a silly joke about pirouetting silly bikes with skinny knobby tires in grass while wearing skin tight lycra. A little back story…. In November 2015 at the end of the cx racing season and immediately after racing SCCX, I decided I hated cyclocross and would rather spend the fall riding my mountain bike. If you ever read my 2015 Year End recap, the first paragraph, you would get the hint that I was losing interest.

Fast forward to 2017, as the year progressed, my dreams of winning the Mid Atlantic Super Series and H2H championships, being the NJ state champion and then racing Nationals remained dreams and never ever came close to a reality. In my head, I had a very productive winter and was feeling super strong and confident going in to the race season and I really thought I had a good shot at achieving those lofty goals.

Four excuses that dictated how my year was really going to turn out:

• I made a commitment to Ben to help him with the Princeton Progressions NICA team
• Dropper-post / frame warrantypacalypse 2017
• Joining the Cognition Team / IMBA Instructor Certification Program
• Lymes

NICA – When I made a commitment to help Ben with the Princeton NICA team and as the team and season transformed, I was having a blast. I would continue to train for the race season and when the NICA schedule conflicted with my races, it surprisingly didn’t bother me that much to miss my race for the team. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about missing Ramsey’s revenge and the commitment to the kids and the team outweighed the race withdrawals.

Its a great feeling to be a coach that the kids look up to.

Warrantypacalypse 2017 – Not having a dropper post isn’t a  big deal  for casual riding. For me It does impact racing technical courses and riding technical features. Since my dropper was broke and stuck in the frame with no ETA on the replacement, I shied away from riding and racing tech. I didn’t want to get hurt or die.

Rigged broken seat post. Where’s the seat post clamp? Don’t need one because IT’S STUCK IN THE FRAME!!

Cognition / IMBA – When Ben asked me to join the Cognition family and presented the team with his goals and plans, I was humbled and honored to help out. One thing I was tasked with was pursuing the IMBA ICP certifications and when I looked at the schedule, I needed to choose between an IMBA ICP weekend class or a double weekend of racing. I chose IMBA and it bugged me a little but I justified it with I was still having fun on bikes and the IMBA cert will have a better return in the long run. Plus sticking to my end of the commitment to Ben.

Dividends – Cognition Intermediate Skills Clinic at Cranks around the Campfire

Lymes – This hit me after the D&Q Summer Sizzler and I felt the symptoms at the Granogue race and that is when I threw in the towel for any more attempts to salvage an XC race season.

Threw in the towel for the first time in my life. I don’t quit! This was tough to deal with….

At  the end of July in to August, I went on vacation and took it easy and when I returned, I continued to take it easy… While in Florida, I took the road bike in to a park with mostly dirt / sandy paths and I was having a blast ripping through the loose corners on a road bike which reminded me of why cyclocross is fun. I forgot why I swore off cyclocross.

When I returned from Florida, I extended my vacation / rest mode until the end of Aug. During that time, I helped Ben and the Cognition team with a cyclocross clinic and when I took the fenders, rack and smooth tires off my shit weather / commuter bike and converted it to a quazi cyclocross bike and took it out for a cx rip, I felt some inspiration to do some cyclocross racing.

So here I am… prepared to do four cyclocross races this season. My training consists of Wednesday night local cyclocross practices, a hard lunch ride with a friend once a week and an occasional race as long as it’s within a thirty minute drive from my house. And in between, ride my mountain bike with my kids as much as possible. All of which will be done on my trustee steel shit weather commuter converted to a “cyclocross bike”.

Stay tuned for cyclocross race recaps.

• Whirlybird CX
• Hippo Cross
• Copper Cross
• HPCX

Thanks for reading.

PS – The most valuable thing I learned this year…. There are so many other ways to have fun on bikes