No C-Ville for us!

What a hunk!!!

We missed the Va. CX finals today for a number of reasons. The biggest we are all tired. The saddest part is not missing another race but that we won't be getting a sweet T-shirt with the picture of that hunky fella on it.

Tomorrow we will be at Reston CX which will be the official end of the season for me but really it ended at the last MTB race back in September. The Shogren's will be headed out to KC for nationals before pulling the plug on 08 season. I am sure they will be coming home with at least 2 Stars and Stripes or the beatings will be O-plenty.

If there are any extra Va. finals Tee's bring them on over to Reston tomorrow. I am sure they will be worth a lot. That hunk might even sign a few.

Oh, we wanted to give a big ole public thanks to the good folks that put on the NUE series and their nice sponsors Smith and Nephew for the sweet and unexpected early Christmas gifts that Betsy and I received in the mail. You guys rock and are doing great things to keep our sport and passion alive.

See every one tomorrow. Dress warm, ride hard and have smiles.

PEACE Chrissy

Crossn'

There is cross racn’, cross dressn’ and cross trainn’ and we at Team Bi-atch do them all on occasion. Some of us do certain ones more then others, Gunnar get out of Betsy’s closet.

Well Fan, with the cross racn’ season coming to an end I decided to start a little cross trainn’ yesterday. I did 10, yes count them 10 push-ups. Now these push ups were quite pathetic too. Maybe one or two would have met the approval of a drill sergeant. It’s a start right?

So this morning my arms were so sore I could barely lift my coffee mug. I am a big sissy!!!!

Now go ride, it is way easier then push-ups.

PEACE

Chrissy the sissy

Did it again.

On Crashing:

You will crash often.

Don't worry, we all do it.

You will ride again.

A lovely Haiku brought to you by Bunny over on our training blog Cycle Dumb Training. It seems as though I have been living this Haiku creed this cross season or as my nice friends and Team mates seem to think, all season. On Saturday, I did it again out at Superior Cross. After a minute or less of very hard racing, bam, the kid in front me went down wicked hard and I had no where else to go but down with him all tied up in his bike ending with some pretty good damage to me and his sweet Obrea. I normally bounce back from these things within seconds but this one was particularly violent. I slowly got up with one very sweet chainring tattoo on my rib cage which is also turning a nice shade of purplish green, 3 matching chainring tat's on my leg with the last and deepest gash ending 2 inches from my junk also turning a purplish green, an apple size swollen hip topped with a big ole gash and yes I landed on the recently recovered broken wrist. Day over.

"You will ride again"

So I did race Sunday a bit achy and sore. Did my injuries slow me who knows but I did ride again, near the back for most of the day, but I did ride again. I'll blame the injuries for my poor ride, the Director will not.

Even with my new aches and Tat's it was a good weekend. Gunnar took the C3 boys to school winning our race, Betsy had a fun time keeping Libby S. in check winning her race and I did wheelies for Gwadz's blog which I did NOT make it on.

Stole from the amazing Joel

Only a few more weekends left and the 2008 race campaign will be officially over until March(I think the first NUE 100 miler is in April, yippee) Some needed RR, movie watching and weekends of sleeping in are in store for sure.

Thanks Team Haymarket and Coppi for two sweet CX races. I may have my gripes about living in DC but we do have a lot of road and cross racn'.

PEACE
Chrissy Crash A-Lot

The Rumors are True.

gunnar has gone back to bar-end shifters.  (only he didn't the fancy-schmancy carbon ones)  

Next time you see him, don't forget to give him a "drive-by shifting!"

Mercer Cup USGP, "Dirty Jersey" style

The USGP was a mean, muddy mess that had me run, run and run some more. I rode a little, flatted twice, had some poor pit experiences, lost 10 places, ran some more but had a blast. Caked mud, salty drool and Kool-Aid smiles galore.

On Sunday, I did much of the same but with one less flat, a bit more riding, and 30 less degrees. I do think I had bigger Kool-Aid smile too. I love the Lyfe!

It was the meanest, baddest, droolingest weekend of cross so far this season, but man was it wicked fun.

MikeyY (Team Bi-atch member at large crushed) both days along with some fellow WVMBA homies: Gerry, Andy, SteveO, JP and The Step Child-all heroes too.

"May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face" and may your wheels always find it safely back to the ground.
PEACE
Chris

Broken Wrist Re-Visited

Just got back from my Orthopedic Doc and I am happy to report all is well. He gave me the thumbs up to begin riding and racing again, yippee. I guess I do not need that body double who has been filling my SPD shoes in this seasons Cross campaign anymore.

Time to clean my CX bikes. This past weekends USGP that I did not race in really tore them up.

See you this weekend as the real Chrissy will be racn'. Be afraid, really, really, afraid!!!!

PEACE
CHRISSY

....USGP race report will be coming soon but don't tell my Doc.

URBAN CROSS

Well fan, this past Saturday the Team and I decided to take a break from the MAC series. We all just chilled in our respective cities and rode a little. I headed out on the cross bike to Great Falls on the C &O. It is ride I did a lot last fall but with all the CX racn’ we have been doing this season I have not had a chance. It is beautiful out back ride 3+-hour ride. The views are amazing, the route peaceful and the smells this time of year are wonderful. It makes me forget that I live in major city. That is until of course you get close to Great Falls and you hit mad hiker/tourist’s. Oh well.

Concrete Jungle!

Race Day…. I headed down to Charlottesville, Va. Sunday morning for Urban Cross. The lay out of the course was certainly unique…. lots of gravel-pavement, concrete obstacles, an abandon factory, two steep b#%l buster climbs, two-stair runs and one over sized litter box.

Go Director!!

The racn’ was a hoot. JR raced in the morning and did very well. He is hooked. Gunnar and I raced next in the Masters Elite. I was feeling like a CX rockstar for the first 30 minutes but I quickly started to move backwards but still finished with in a minute of the 6 or 7 guys ahead of me. It was fun racing with all the position swapping and such. The Director killed it and rode away from us early on and never looked back. Good jerb Old Geezer (I held Bernie back for ya…Happy B-Day...you owe we half the winnings). Then it was Bunny’s turn. A couple of the ladies swapped the lead with her for a lap or two but eventually Betsy rolled away. Go Bunny!! It’s not over yet; Gunnar and I decided to jump in the Elite race too. He duked it out for 3rd and I yo-yoed between 8th-10th. We both landed in the money, yippee.

Go Me, Chrissy!

Then off to dinner, to see Edgar Allen Poe, ok his old dorm room and we also had an improntu campus lesson from a nice UVA co-ed. Mad Da Vinci Code shit going on there. UVA certainly has a beautiful campus with many nice peep's that were happy to show us around. I miss the mountains and small-town college town life :(.

School is in session. Go Bunny!!!

Urban Cross was certainly a cool venue. It will defiantly be on the Bi-atch calender next season and it should be on yours too. Thanks Blue Wheel Bicycles.

And today I relax. Fan you may just think we are just super-duper-macho bike racers as we do live the “pro lyfe” more often then most but I am also a mind molder by day and have the day off, yippee!! Ok, time for more coffee and to start thinking about riding.

Oh, congrat's Team member at large Mikey Y. for riping it up in the MAC races in "dirty Jersey" and to JR for his bike racn' TV debut.

"May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face" and may your wheels always find it safely back to the ground.
PEACE
Chris

Lots of Cross in Merry-Land!!!

The Team took on two fronts Saturday. Bunny, The Director and Pickle Boy tore it up in Morgantown and I held it down on the MAC front out in Fairhill, MD. I had all my cold weather gear packed but man did it turn out to be a beautiful day. The course was a hoot, twisty gravel turns, into the hen house, over the barriers in the pavilion, lots of sand riding all while some killer DJ spun the vinyl, ok did shit on a laptop. As for my race, well, lets just say I had a fun hard training ride. But it was a whole lot of jolly fun. As is the "lyfe" is supposed to be.

Trying this new thing called warming up!

Sunday we Bi-atchs all converged in Merry-Land for the Kelly Benefits CX race in Rockburn, Merry-Land. The course was pretty F-ing rad with lots of elevation change, tons of turns, some double track MTB style, a cool sand pit, a wicked fast down hill and a table top-hip jump too. I got all crossed up over it on a few laps. If you aint gonna win you best look good. Gunnar crushed it and won our race, Betsy had a great race against MelanieS. and yes Powderpuff was the victor, JR in his 3rd CX race did great even with some starting line troubles and I mustered up a descent ride.

Betsy just finished up Cipollini style!!!

Its funny, the MABRA folks think I am some single track riding freak hill billy from WV while the WV folks think I am a DC roadie. Who do I belong to? Probably to the mountains.

The Director impressing Cougars with his
Justin Timberlake moves! Not bringing sexy back though.

The weekend was full of lots of drool and smiles. Hope you got to see us fan.
Now get out and vote!

PEACE CHRISSY

NBC!!

Nothing But Cross!

Well except for cruising to town, or running across the street w/ Jackie, or playing w/ that new frame...
But besides that-
Nothing But Cross.

What part of Nothing don't you understand Chris?

The Lord Baby Bi-atch!!

Hath been born-ed.
Finally and foresakingly for real.

Little Isaac Yozell.
Cheering his bad little self on to another successful... something!

Yay Team!
Go Sport!

DCCX Weekend!!

Yippee fan, I got to stay in my own bed this past weekend. At least Friday night. I let Jackie and the Shogren's have the bed Saturday night. The race, a cross race just up the street, kinda: up the alley, down Newton, zig-zag, left on 16th, right on Upshur a couple of stop signs and there. See right up the street.

It was a beautiful day, a kick ass course and an absolute hoot of a venue. Great racn', tasty ale, fries and one sexy cheerleader.

Sexy Beast!!!!

Gunnar and I decided to do the Elite Masters and Elite race. I would say about seven other's decided to give the double header a go. From what I can tell only three of us finished both: Michael G. (who got 2nd in both, way tougher then us), Gunnar (4th in the Elite Masters and pack fodder in the Elite) and Me, Chrissy(pack fodder in both). It's training for MTB season right? It was all fun yet painful. Smiles and drool was plentiful.

Betsy has been losing the fight against some illness but she managed to have a great race still and against some heavy hitters.

And we had our first "cougar" join the Cougar Fest.
It was a great weekend for sure.

Thanks DCMTB.

"May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face" and may your wheels always find it safely back to the ground.
PEACE
Chris

MAC round 3 & 4...solo

I headed out to round 3 and 4 of the MAC series (Granogue and Wissahickon) races alone this past weekend fan. The Shogren’s stayed close to home but I did meet up with Team Bi-atch member at large Mike Y. and baby Bi-atch Yozell and mom Erica.

Granogue was a hoot. It was a picturesque fall day and the course was pretty darn rad. I got there late after Google.maps and I had a small disagreement so I got to line up DFL. Sweet, with 70+ guys in front of me I could only move forward. With my warm up consisting of slamming a Redbull and a stop in at the Porta-John my expectations were high. I had a blast though, I chased down many groups, I am starting to feel like I may be developing some cross “form” as those 100 milers are still in my legs and smiles with drool was a plenty.

Beauty!!

I pitted for Mike and headed off to Gotham to visit some friends and eat some dinner.

See me? No, I am waayyy in the back!

Thanks Kevin

Then day two. I actually arrived to Wissahickon early. Wow, warming up does have certain merits but at Cycle-Dumb Training we feel its over rated. Again not pre-reging gave me a killer starting position, yippee DFL again. Fan, you know what that means. Yup, it can only get better. And it did, chase, chase, chase…bridge, bridge, bridge still just pack fodder but I feel like a CX’er kinda finally so maybe I will pre-reg next time to see if I can duke it out near the front. Again, lots of smiles and drool were had.

The wrist is getting better and so is the cross “form” yippee, maybe by December I can make the podium just in time for this long season to be officially over. I do miss the mountain bike. Over all it was a great weekend. It would have been more fun with my mates but we all need a break.

This weekend…lots of sleeping in and DCCX 5 minutes from my apartment, yay no traveling. And the old man and I will be racn' twice. What possibly could go wrong? One reason I like DC.

See you out there fan!!