bubba

so we had some cross races this weekend. the first bubba ones of the year. i think i rode my bike 2 times leading up to the races. And that was on thursday and friday of that week. The first time before that being sunday. my bike racing weeks are monday-sunday, not sunday-saturday. deal with it. Saturday night I arrived to find a dark course that was super buumpy and nearly invisible. i realized that because it's dark people probably follow eachothers lines a lot less and thus the course doesn't get worn in as much, and results in a bumpier course. Not that all the bumps would be gone, but at least somethin would be worn in. The course was relatively boring, with nothing really unique, but it can't really get too interesting in a night race without being a hazard to all. i'd have liked to see a bit more elevation change, but there didn't seem to be much available in the floodplane we were racing in.

I got a solid last row starting spot and was able to move up to the top 14 or so by the second lap. There were a bunch of people going down on every corner it seemed and it was pretty sketchy from the start. It seemed like futureman and shottler were leading the group but not really going anywhere for a few laps. It was fast but it wasn't ridiculously fast and nobody had particularly distanced themselves from the rest. There was a relatively big group containing pretty much everyone decently quick. On the 4th (?) lap I got ramjammed from behind and got my tire knocked off. it probably didn't have enough glue on it anyways, but it hadn't rolled yet and none of the corners were that bad, so I blame it on getting hit (by someone who later rolled his own tire and proceeded to throw his bike). I had to deflate the tire pretty much all the way to get it back on the rim ( I rolled it a lot). I knew I wasn't going to win. So I just walked back to the pit instead of running pretty much the whole course to get to it, as I was two turns past it (and, classic stl, it was only a 1 way pit). I waited for everyone to go by and then just hopped back in where I was, crit style. I wasn't about to ride around by myself for the next 6 laps.

I almost got smoked by Jay blindly coming out of the pit and that put me in a bad mood. We yelled back and forth and I just ended up not feeling like I even wanted to be out there. I pulled out on my 5th lap or something I guess. I looked at the death section of the course with a dusty fog hanging over it and decided I was done inhaling that stuff.

I could also tell I'm not in good shape. I wasn't able to throw it down on the road section like I usually could, and I know some people didn't get that much faster. I think I'm good enough to hang in about 10th right now just on skill and experience, but speed wise I have absolutely nothing. I probably rode 15 hours in the last month. Most at a suuuper easy pace. I've been doing a lot of manual labor lately and just considering that my training. I'm "supposed" to be doing some kind of activity 2-3 days a week just to not get fat, and it's a challenge to get down to that but I'm doing what I can. I think we're going to start training again in november. just base stuff I guess. I think I'll probably keep doing most of the bubba races. It'll be interesting to see how I'm going in december and late november after I start riding more.

I didn't race sunday. I wasn't really in the mood to go out and feel slow. But I did anyways. I rode with Keaton and Justin. Justin is training more serious than anyone I know right now. He put the hurt on us for 75 miles. He's lost a ton of weight, and will probably be flying in December, and maybe again in May after he burns out in February. He was going to go lift weights and then run after his 85 miles. WTF? oh well, it's his training plan and if it works how I think it will it's only good for me, so I guess I should shut up. I'll probably ride with him a lot this winter. he's fun to ride with and definitely pushes me. He also knows like every road.

It is really nice to not have to focus on cross so much. I have so much going on with school now, and I'm really trying to give that 100% (Something I've never really done). I'm enjoying spending time in the studio and enjoying the focus I can have on my work; and that's good because it's a lot more likely that I'm going to be doing that with my life than racing cross. I'm just more worried about how all of my studio classes are going to affect my road training. My dad always says the busier you are the more organized you have to be. I'm sure I can make it work. I'm thinking about commuting by bike, once I move down to Tower Grove. I figure it'd be an easy way to get in an hour or two a day when I dont have time to specifically go ride.

This past tuesday I worked with Ahmet Ogut. He's an artist from Turkey, living in Amsterdam and working pretty much everywhere. He had the Turkey pavilion in the Venice Biennale in 2009 which is a pretty big freaking deal. He has a show this Saturday at the gallery at Laumeier. I shot some guerilla work with him on Tuesday and have been in the lab printing for the last two days. It's pretty exciting to get to work with someone who has around 10 solo exhibitions a year, and has become really successful at a young age. It's cool to have an impact and be asked for input on his work. I'm really excited to see the rest of the work in the exhibition, and to see my photos up on the wall. So if you're free Saturday, and you like art and art openings, you should come to Laumeier. I think the opening is from 6-8. There's free wine and beer usually at these things.
Is this an okay thing to write about? I know my audience is primarily cycling based. Sorry to bore you. Maybe I should start an art blog.

I don't think I'm going to race this weekend. I was excited to, at the possibility of rain, but I haven't ridden once since Sunday. It doesn't look like I'm going to get to ride until this Sunday either. Fall break has turned into the week of being realllly busy. I'm working a ton of odd jobs, printing 16 36x24in photos, and trying to make some work and get my work together for Major Acceptance Review next Friday. That's what I really need to focus on, getting into the Art Department officially.