We came, we saw… we got RAD as hell!  As a cross racer, the Cincy3 UCI weekend is something that you look forward to all year.   How often do you get a chance to rip it up in the morning, then spend the afternoon heckling the pros while they flat out destroy the course that nearly killed you a few hours earlier?  For me, the UCI weekend was my first exposure to the mayhem and madness known as cyclocross.  I watched on the sidelines of Harbin Park as JamesO got as rad as he could manage at time.  With a double sand pit, technical off-camber, and a blazing downhill… I was hooked.   That was 4 years ago.

Fast forward to 2011.  Team Hungry is raging strong, breaking hearts, and robbing fools on the cross course.    After the dust bowl races of last year, I think everyone was stoked to see the temperature drop and the rain come down in the days leading up to Friday’s race at Devou Park.  Simply put, Devou is a killer.  Non-stop climbing, tons of off-camber and a mud pit you could get lost in.  It’s always hard.  Alex Steinker and Billy Craig led the day out in the Singlespeed/Cat 4 Masters combo.   Alex took the first CX podium of the year with a solid 3^rd place ride.  Not to mention, he got to share the podium with Craig Etheridge, one of the top ranked singlespeed racers in the country.  Billy fought hard for 5^th in the Cat 4 35+.   Blair Barter was our lone woman of the weekend!  She battled with the muddy conditions, and given the time she has been racing CX, I’d say she did well.  Blair took 15^th overall in the Cat 1/2/3/4 Womens race , 9^th among the Cat 4’s, and plenty of mud for the ride home.   Mike Starr and Thom Anderson gave it hell in the Cat 4 Open race.   Mike laid down a solid ride for 7^th and Thom hung on for 15^th on day.    And what would a local CX race with out Matt Harbaugh… the dude that races everything he can get his wheels on.    If you’ve got a race, Harbaugh will do it.   And in the Cat 2/3 group, he didn’t disappoint.   With a fast field, Matt finished 28^th overall and 11^th among the Cat 3 riders.   In the Ol’ Man Cat 3 35+, JamesO rounded out Team Hungry’s stellar opening day of the UCI weekend.  He rode hard to 6^th place finish on a bike he hadn’t ridden before!  A total James move…  Although Pardi didn’t race,  I have to give him the Hecklers nod!   It was clear from the start of the UCI Elite Mens race that Tim Johnson and his budding moustache didn’t know what do with Scott Pardi.   Between the shouts of “Timmy” and the on course coaching Pardi provided, Johnson had all of the motivation he needed and couldn’t stop smiling.

Saturday’s race headed up to Middletown for a cold hammerfest.    Despite the fact that this is typically the easiest race of the weekend, I have a developed seething hatred for this course over the last few years.  It has somehow managed to beat me down on each of my previous attempts… but not this year.  Billy and I rolled up to a cold dark morning with the Cat 4 35+ group.  I had a decent call up, but quickly blew it after sprinting out of my pedals and having to ride the first quarter of the lap with one foot unclipped.    I finally managed to get in to a good rhythm and starting picking people off.  Somewhere during the start of the third lap, I looked around and realized that I was battling it out for 2^nd with a little gap to Billy in 4^th.    In the final meters, I dropped the hammer firmly taking 2^nd place (and my first podium finish) and Billy held strong at 4^th.   In the Cat 4 Open group, Mike and Thom rode hard for 14^th and 15^th.   Harbaugh roughed it up in the Cat 2/3 for 22^nd place in the 3’s.   JamesO had a last lap crash a knock him off of the podium, but popped up quickly to finish 5^th on the day.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!  Harbin Park.  A UCI C1 race.   Always technical, always, hard, always fast, always fun!  The weather was perfect.  Nice and cool in the morning, and warming throughout the day.  The course was rad.  Just enough mud to get dirty, but not enough to slow you down.   Billy and I were coming off of the strong day in Middletown and we were both feeling good.  I had been so bold the evening before to tell my friends and teammates that I had one plan for Harbin… To win!  Billy and I showed up good and early to do get plenty of time on the course prior to starting.   We were able to get about 3 laps in before the call-ups started and I felt like the course really suited me.   Between the technical off-camber and grinding tall grass climb… I had a good feeling about my ability to win it.

The ref’s had decided to change the call-up structure from previous day to put all of the elite singlespeed guys on the frontrow, which put me on in the middle of the third row and Billy in the fourth row… not where we were hoping to be.  My plan was to sprint out of the gate and hop on to the back of the single speed group and hold on for dear life.  At the whistle, I began hammering the spirit only to have my foot pot out again, but this time I managed a much better save and reclipped in no time.   I charged up the up the hill into the first turn.  I was setting 5^th wheel, which is exactly where I wanted to be.    Four back from the blazing fast Craig Etheridge in a tight group.    By the time we exited the technical off-camber section, we had a little gap on the rest of the field, and I was the lone cat4 guy in the bunch.   I dug deep to pace this group on the straight grass hill section up to the finish and through the sand, and within the first lap, I had about 10 seconds on the chase group.  I started working with one of the singlespeed guys and really pushed it.  During the next lap and a half I was able to extend the lead to almost a minute.  My legs were on fire, but in a really good way.   When I came around the technical section on the last lap I saw AnnieMac was screaming for me and at this point, I felt unstoppable.  I had no idea where Billy was in all of this, but was hoping that he was crushing it too.  As I cruised the last lap, I finally got a glimpse of Billy about a minute back and leading the charge.   He had been battling up through the pack and had no idea that he was in second place.  To say that Billy was digging deep, would have been a massive understatement.   He was charging!

The rest of the team faired well on the day.  Blair took 9^th overall in the Cat 1/2/3/4 Womens race.  In the Cat 4 Open, Tom McKenna rode to a solid 10^th with Mike Starr close behind at 14^th.  In the Cat 3 open, Harball also squeezed in the top 20 at 22^nd.

The whole weekend was fantastic and well organized thanks to Mitch Graham and the supporting teams BioWheels, Darkhorse, and Queen City Wheels!  Can’t wait to do it again next year!

I'm drinking human growth hormone as we scale the first hill.

Friend and BSM cycling elder, Sam Klontz and I headed east to the big mountains of northeastern West Virginia over Memorial Day weekend for one of the toughest road races in the US, the Tour of Tucker County.  This race is exactly why I sat on my cat 2 upgrade, for the last thing I needed was a cat 1 ripping my legs off, the hills were plenty.  Yes, I sandbagged.  The race course promised a 53 mile route with two 1500+’ foot climbs and a massive 2000′ climb with the finish line at the top.  You started in a valley and did two challenging circuits that covered the 1500 feet in two chunks, the final part at a brutal 2 miles of 8% grade.  After the climb there was a beautiful stretch or ridge lines that one could not enjoy due to the Delaware sized potholes with healthy amounts of gravel.  We then had a wickedly fast descent back into the valley, only to have to repeat the loop before the final slog up the mountain.

The race start was a nervous one.  I knew the day would be one of pain, and a major issue was that I didn’t know many of the riders, making it tough to know who to mark and stick with on the climbs.  Luckily Gabe from Columbus was there and I knew he could climb.  The moment we started the first part of the 1500′ climb, we dropped the hammer.  We whittled the group down to about 25 (from the original 52) after the first loop.  The second time up the loop, Gabe, myself, and a random fast dude let it rip and broke away.  We had a few guys join us at the top of the climb and our group managed to hold off the peloton for the rest of the race.  However, what we didn’t know was that there was no peloton.  Our pace broke up the remaining riders and our group was the race.  I sized up the group and I had a bad feeling.  I was with a bunch of mountain goats, the eventual winner being about 140 pounds soaking wet.  It’s a rare moment when I feel fat.  When we hit the final 2000′ climb, I knew I was in trouble.  I had a feeling it would take about 30 minutes and we had rode really hard up to that point.  You could ride that race ignoring reality or conservatively knowing your fate.  I went with option A and it hadn’t hurt me until the first 10 minutes of the 12-15% grade.   I love cycling, and I never want to quit a ride, no matter what the weather.  However, going up a mountain in the middle of nowhere in West Virginia at 5 mph with people all around you, from other races, walking their bikes (it’s a race, the horror!),   abandonment becomes the best idea since Anthony Weiner signed up for Twitter.  I could barely move the pedals and halfway up the first stretch, I cracked a bit and watched as 3 of our group continued on, 0.5 mph faster than me.  Finally the grade eased up a bit and I sped up to a more respectable 12 mph.  This lasted about a km, and then a 7-8% grade greeted me and wouldn’t leave till I hit the finish line.

I think I could walk faster.

I crossed the finish line in 5th place, never happier to be off my bike.  I really wanted to podium, but given the terrain, I was happy with 5th place.  Here’s the garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88826334 It’s been about 2.5 months of pretty consistent spring road racing and this was a nice capstone, if you will, for the spring season.  As it gets warmer, the races are mainly criteriums, short loop races that are faster but a fraction of time (40 mins vs. 2.5 hours) of road races.  Since completion of this race, I realize the benefits of a race that is so stupidly difficult.  You get a new threshold for pain.  I’ve done some old favorite hill climbs since the Tour of Tucker County and I realize that as much as they hurt, they could always be worse.

Team Hungry has proven itself to be a force to reckon with. As illustrated by our Cat 3 squad (Andrew, Michael, and a dash of Scott Pardi) we can, and will, race the shit out of some bikes. Look at us wrong during a race, and we’ll drop you in a quick second (kidding, yes?).

The Spring Series was only ten weeks long and our 3 squad podium’d 9 times! The races varied from extremely flat, fast courses to courses with hills so steep that some people literally decided to walk up.

Andrew and I both finished on the overall podium for the series and are really proud of our Spring results. This is a true attestation that consistent winter work (weather is not a factor) and strong teamwork (finally!) can turn into good results!

Check these photos!

We’ll pretty much race you at anything. Especially if it has ANYTHING to do with bikes.

Part of Mobo‘s annual fundraiser this year was a bike build where teams were challenged to assemble a bike with the highest integrity the fastest. Each team was given a bucket of parts, a stripped frame, and a few tools to do the job. Lined up against three other teams from bike shops, punk houses, and co-ops, Scott Pardi and I were ready to put our mechanical skills to the test.

We put our heads down, made a bunch of mistakes, took a few whiskey shots, and only twelve minutes later had built a ride that most people would have loved to own. Hot damn that was fast!

We were feeling pretty proud of our teamwork and the bike that we built. Especially when we were awarded this beaut!