Welcome aboard Swrve!

Pretty stoked to announce that we will be getting some support from Swrve this year. They are a very cool company that produce some quality gear. The business casual pre-ride bar has been raised.
I won a gift certificate for Swrve at the Geekhouse Cyclocross end of season party. I got a couple base layers. Merino wool. Very nice. I was impressed by the quality, but more by the attitude I saw on the hang tab on the clothes.

This was an attitude I could support, and with that in mind I got in contact with Matt and Muriel and they were cool enough to want to support the team and have their name associated with ours. So huge thanks to them for letting us represent their company. Deals on kit are cool, but getting to work with a company you like that makes rad shit is pretty amazing. Also a big thanks to #partymarty cause this probably wouldn't have come together without the Geekhouse festivus.
We will post more thoughts on their clothes as we try them out.
So one last time. Swrve. Check them out!

newest master's racer?

Marky Ramone stopped by work today to promote his new Marinara sauce. 10% of the proceeds go to Autism Speaks.
He also was showing off the Grammy the Ramones got for lifetime achievement.
He said he doesn't ride-especially not in NYC, but would be looking sharp in this jersey on his nordic track.

I felt like this

Eco-Cross

I had wanted to do the Coonamessett cross race for a couple years. Missed it three years ago and they didn't run it last year. So I was definitely planning a day off to hit it this year. Small fields and a chance to get crushed by juniors-how could you say no? Got to the farm early for a preride(in kit, sorry business casual crowd). It was a short lap. Felt really short which is odd since I always think laps are loooong when I preride. Had Cape friends coming out to watch so I was hanging out and a little distracted. Distracted to the point that I lined up with no number. Very pro. Number was in my jacket in the car. No way I was going to make it to the car and back for the start. Officials didn't notice, so off I went. My start wasn't a total shit show, but I lost places heading into the woods. Couple laps in and I was locked into the battle at the back-which is as serious as the battle of the bulge, just slower. The gravelly left turn into the beer tent barriers never felt right to me and I hit it pretty slow each lap-including the time I veered into a low wall and almost took my self out. Luckily I was going slow enough to recover.... After the barriers you went out into a field that was soggy, grassy muddy death. The only bright side was their was a "faster line" along the left hand tape that kept you out of some of the mud. Need to check for that line more often. It took til 2 to go for the inevitable to happen, I got caught by Nate Morse. Funnier guys than me have addressed this issue so I will not. I got caught by a few other dudes as I continued to battle it out with Andy. Going into the last lap, he uncorked a brutal attack in pretty much the perfect spot to pass me to win the battle of the back.
It was odd to be the only Newbury dude at the race since we usually roll deep (or as as the full quartet). Missed the crew. Got heckled by the announcer with the classic line, "this guy doesn't look so high&mighty now...." rim shot.... After the race I got a brief scolding from the officals and was on my way to try the "cyclocross salad". Didn't take advantage of the available harpoon as I was mentally preparing for getting spanked in a bigger field on Saturday.
This race is like a shorter Orchard Cross and was really fun. Plenty of beer and food and a cool scene all around. I would recommend getting the day off to do this next year. This was also the only race of the year that had mud in quantities beyond a three foot stretch.
Do the race next year and if you are on the cape check it out. Food is good.

Teamwork our way

Thom keeping hope alive at Orchard Cross.

When we started our team, we joked about doing some photo shoots. Well when you have photographers in the house all day it can turn into reality pretty quickly.
Then the problem was what to do with the pictures? Well after watching kit after kit get ethered on Kit Watch, submitting our shots seemed like an obvious choice. So we sent them off and waited.
Check it out. We got off pretty easy.
Thanks NYVelocity!
And for anyone racing Canton or Orchard Cross keep an eye out for Thom and Nick, we are restocked with High&Mighty!

PVD day 1

Ok, so I bailed on writing reports for a couple races so I figure I have to write this one.

Providence was a goal of mine from the start of the season. I had heard that the course was basically like a skate park, and that got me really stoked. I like courses that flow well, it makes me feel like I'm riding my skateboard and it makes putting lines together easy.

We showed up pretty early and I got in 2 pre-ride laps, and I was hooked. The course was great, the most fun I'd had yet on my bike. I made a bunch of excuses about how I was tired and that my legs sucked. Which is what I think every bike racer does when they feel good. The whole team lucked out when we were staged by registration order, all front row. I'm sure there is a photo of it somewhere, but my feeble search attempts found nothing. We started, I rode hard and hit the grass probably 5th wheel. Nick was in front of me and did a great repeat of his holeshot at quad. He cooked the turn and was in the tape. He recovered perfectly and lost only a few spots. Impressive hustle. Half way through the first lap we hit the barriers and I think that is where I made my passes and got on the front. I hit the half pipe sections and the climb as hard as I could and built maybe a 10 second gap. From then on the race got really weird, I was in front, with a gap and I just wanted to wait and let guys catch me. I felt too cautious in the turns and too slow in the power sections, but I guess it was enough. It was a slow and steady type of ride, I knew no matter what the result would be good and I didn't freak out because I was off the front.

Then we finished and I had won my goal race with a 20 something second gap. Super stoked.

Day 2 started great too. Until a rogue bungee cord took me out of 2nd place and really wrecked my back and front brake.

Don't blow it.

After Gloucester and Night Weasels Providence had a lot to live up to. I've seen some video, and heard a lot about the quarter pipes, but I needed see it to believe it.


Day 1 in photos.

This

followed several riders later by

This

followed by

This

I'm gonna write about Day 2, because Billy should write about day one.

Thom got his crippled ass out of bed early and drive me to the race with plenty of time for pre-riding. Seriously Thom deserves a ton of credit for going to Sunday's race after his less than spectacular Saturday. The race starts at 8:00 and at 7:30 the course still wasn't finished being staked off. Not the biggest problem, but I definitely did 1 of my 2 pre-ride laps wrong.

The start grid was registration order again giving Billy and I front row starts, thank you signing up early. He and I had discussed the fact that we were probably riding for second because Charlie Schubert was there, and he has been whipping us like dogs every time we've raced him (good for you Charlie.)

The whistle blows and it's on. I see Billy surge up on the left, and Charlie zoom past on my right. I manage to be second wheel onto the grass and promptly overcook the first right hand turn. I did something similar at Quadcross, I went so hard that my brain couldn't handle turning my bike. That time it took me a while to get going again, but this time I jumped back in in the top 20. I proceeded to pedal my ass off, and managed to get around a few guys before the off camber grass part. There were a lot of guys just coasting through on the high line, so I went low, pedaled, and managed to get to about 5th wheel.

Personal highlights of the rest of the race:

-Remounting in the drops after the barriers every time.

-Sprinting up the false flat on the back every lap.

-Railing the downhill headed back to the pit, and attacking to get to 3rd wheel

-Not freaking out when Eric Oishi was closing on me in the final lap. On Saturday he was on my wheel on the last straight, I had him pull through hoping to ride his wheel to success, but he rode me right off it instead. We finished with the same time on both days.

-Not blowing it when I rolled by and saw Billy off the course hopping around. I saw that and thought "Please not again. Oh sh*t now I'm in 3rd, don't blow it." I didn't.

-Finally only losing to 2 people.

This whole NECX Superweek has been incredibly awesome. From the spectacle that was Gloucester to the party and general awesomeness of Da Weasel to getting a rider on the podium each day of Providence. Every race was awesome, and all of the people that I've met, or become better acquainted with have been awesome as well. I'm stoked that this is my home.