Water damage

If you ever wondered what the ceiling of your family room looked like after the dry wall was removed, well here it is.

We had the following valve break in the upstairs bath and pour water into the lower levels of the house.

The piece on the right is the valve stem. The handle (left) broke off and allowed the water to stream into the bath for several hours while we were absent from the house.

What does this have with biking? Not much except that I need to be here at the house to meet repair contractors which takes me away from my usual training rides. It is a good thing that this event happened during the off season.

By the way, we have changed all of the plastic valves in the house to metal. Hopefully this will not happen again.

Paradise Valley Mudder

The following is an amazing action shot of Ben and his dog Flower. Flower is in mid-stride, airborne and it appears that her ears are being used as canards providing lift above the water. It rained all night long prior to this Sunday ride so the trail is completely awash.

Thanks to Ben for allowing me to post this wonderful image.

Cross Timing

Just in case you were wondering how Seattle Cyclocross handles the event timing, here is a brief description from Dave Wamsley.

Our goal with the RFID is to track laps and lap times, not to determine who beat who at the line.  As a general rule if a bike is overlapping another bike at the finish it needs to be reviewed.  We operate the camera at every race to confirm finishes.   I wouldn't count on accuracy beyond  .5 seconds with the Tags and Reader from what I am seeing.  

Cross isn't a timed event.  The times are provided for analysis and training purposes so riders can see how they compare to their peers that are not in their line of sight during the race.

 The times at the races this year are not from the RFID but from our old 10 key system. When keying the finish of a race the protocol is to key all the riders first, then hit the timing plunger the appropriate number of times.

 If one or two riders are finishing we hit the plunger right as there wheel crosses the line.  If multiple riders approach the line at the same time ...lets say 8 in this example, we key all 8 riders in the proper order and then hit the timer 8 times.  Thus times may be off by more than a second or two.   In a stage race all of the riders would have the same finishing time.  I guess we should opt for that method as it would be much easier to hit that group of 8 with the same time.  

 Seattle Cyclocross does an amazing job of getting all the placings correct and published.

Carnation, WA ride

It was 38 degrees when I left the house and headed for the rendezvous point under the I-90 bridge. The streets were wet but it was not raining. Here is the route.

It started to rain just as we entered Redmond and then rained all the way home. I did not eat enough during the ride and consequently I bonked upon reaching Newcastle. Stopping at the Starbucks replenished my sugar stores so I could make it home to a warm shower.

End of Cross Season

After an intense period of training and racing, it is time to ride and enjoy the scenery. When riding around Lake Washington, there are many parks and beaches to explore.

Newcastle Beach Park shows its winter facade of linear tree rows and bare limbs. During the day, very few people frequent the park. 


Sometimes, as was the case last Sunday, a chance meeting of team members results in a great ride. We rode around Mercer Island and the north end of Lake Washington. It is always a joy to ride with folks who have bike handling skills you can trust, especially Ben, who has a wonderfully smooth cadence. Ben also brings a spark of life to the party because you never know which route he will take. You just get into a rhythm and before you know it, the miles have flown by. 

Weather

It is below freezing outside which means black ice on the roads. But even at this point in winter, Rainer comes forth with the following:

Me? Sit inside and pedal?
Fool me once.....

Seattle CX Season Finale

It was just above freezing and lightly raining when we arrived at the Evergreen Fairgrounds to contest the Seattle Cyclocross season finale. I got checked in and then pre-rode the course. The finish line, steep hill side area, and pit zone were changed from last year. The ditch crossing that gave everyone a problem last year was easy but the steep descent plus single barrier on the hill side caused many a crash this Sunday.

Here is Eva washing out the front end and going down.

And here is Chris taking a tumble.

When the whistle blew for our start, I was in the wrong gear and lost some time. After I got things going I looked up and saw Steve B. out in front and killing it. Greg H. and the crew were in hot pursuit. I put my diesel engine into gear and started to pull the field back to me.

As the race continued I passed Steve B. and then George.

 I came up behind Richard D. but then blundered my way through the steep hill side and lost contact.

Check out that top hat that Cosmic is wearing! Awesome!

Here are Steve B. and Amos G. going through the barrier. 

Note Don's flat tire. He made a great effort to run to the pits for his "B" bike.

Every time I went through this puddle I filled my right shoe full of cold water. 

I pulled some time back when racing on the gravel road and before the finish area but the race ended before I could make any more gains.

Finishers for Sunday's race (Cat 4 men 55+):

1st - Greg H.

2nd - Richard D.

3rd - BikeSea

Finishers for the overall Seattle CX series (Cat 4 men 55+):

1st - George S.

2nd - BikeSea

3rd - Steve B.

I'm the proud recipient of a silver cow bell for the Seattle Cyclocross Championship Series. Last year I was just off the podium in 4th place.

A huge thank you goes to the entire crew of Seattle Cyclocross for putting on the 2010 Championship Series.