Via the Pony Shop.  It looks like there might be a few races I can hit up between my out of town weekends.  If I did the five races in the ChiCrossCup that are not on other UCI weekends, that would make for 24 races in 13 weeks.  Sounds like just a little too much, but we will see how things go.  The race in DeKalb in October is supposed to be pretty sweet, I might have a hand in helping design that course. I see Northbrook on there and have heard that the velodrome might be part of that equation.  The state championships are the same day I will be racing the best in Portland for the final round of USGP, so obviously I will not be around to contest that, next year, maybe.  So, that is twelve races in Illinois, eleven races going on in Wisconsin and a UCI weekend thrown in for good measure for anyone not wanting to drive more than two hours to race.  I can almost smell the autumn leaves.

I got another email from Paul.  The team is finalizing the kit order, Voler skinsuits are awesome!  And I should have the majority of my bikes by the middle of the month as well!  Things are working themselves out and this has become better than I would have ever imagined.  I can not wait, thank you Paul for this great opportunity.  Power tested yesterday and made another 5% increase on my threshold wattage.  The legs are coming around.

In the spirit of benlikesbikes, I will try to keep this bike related.  Amy got me.  If you want to do it feel free and if you let me know, I will say you did me wrong and I tagged you in retaliation.  And then I will link to it...

1. My brother is faster, or at least was faster, than me when we raced BMX.  He is 3 years younger than me.

2. I wanted a mountain bike with front suspension very badly when I was fourteen.  I could not afford a new bike and neither could my parents.  The first mountain biking I did was on a fully rigid, 24", neon orange with black splatter painted Huffy.  I loved it regardless.

3. One of my favorite sounds on this planet is the noise knobby tires make as they speed across and out of a Masonite quarter pipe.

4. I have never been taken to the hospital as a result of a cycling related injury.  I have only been in an ambulance once.  I probably should have been taken to the hospital in an ambulance a whole bunch of times.

5. Related to number four.  I fell during a qualifying heat of a BMX race when I was 15.  I remember pulling myself off the track and laying down in the grass.  The next thing I remember is picking my head up off a picnic table.  I thought I had taken a nap.  No, in actuality I just finished two hot dogs and had replaced my torn gloves.  I have never been able to remember that half hour.

6. I met the most fantastic girl in my life because I was hit by a car on my bike right in front of her.

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After Friday mornings mishap I was without a road bike on Saturday.  I made a quick phone call Friday night and hopped on the Palos bandwagon with Mike and Jason.  It is great to be able to easily plan a 4 hour day with some great riders.  Mike and I decided to start our ride again with the new section of trail we learned about last week.  It was just as challenging as last week, but with a little familiarity, it was faster, smother and more stylish.  We did stop a couple times to let Jason try a section or two a couple times.  After that Mike and I raced down the street to the bullfrog parking lot.  The Trek and SRAM people were out doing a demo, so we stopped to chat a little and hooked Greg onto our train at the same time.  We rolled down some fire road, through some trail, across 104th, along the canal, up Willow Springs Road, back into the woods, crushed limestone, through the black out and back and one lap of the meltdown race before coming back into the parking lot.  Somewhere in there I bunny hopped a log pile and came down into the soft dirt a little crooked and wrapped myself up in my bike pretty good.  I also bent my rear derailer hanger.  That made two in two days!  Back in the parking lot though, the Trek guys hooked me up.  Bent some steel, made the proper adjustments and applied necessary lubrication.  The night before I had looked at the trail map and noticed that there is some trail Mike and I have not ridden before.  Greg had and we rolled back out of the parking lot to take a look.  Down the yellow trail and across 95th Street to the purple and Cemetery Hill.  From now on this will be the first trail I ride when we go out to Palos.  Like a run down BMX course, there are some bump jumps and hard corners.  Super fun.  All and all we put in probably 25 miles of trail, most of it only being ridden once.  It isn't Kettle, but with all this new trail, it is starting to be just as good.  A solid 3 1/2 hours.

Sunday, Julie had her wedding shower, which I was not allowed at, up in the western burbs of Milwaukee.  So I made the tough call and decided to meet, Mike, Dan, Tim, Holly, Tom and Kevin up at Kettle instead of riding my road bike.  In between, Sam at Rapid Transit bent my derailer hanger back, Marcus sold me a replacement rim and nipples and I relaced the wheel.  I led as Mike and I went out and rode a blue loop before everyone else showed up.  Then I led the train of Kevin, Mike and John from Hayes for another blue loop.  It was nice to ride with these guys.  We did not have a specific workout and were not trying to rip each others legs off, but we were all still riding strong and it made for a fast ride.  I took the right turn off of the blue loop onto the new green trail cutting the lap a little short.  Back in the parking lot after battling the mosquitoes during a flat change we decided on one full blue loop and maybe some connector.  Again I led the train and again it was a super fun ride.  Skipped the green and rode the entire blue.  At the Emma split, everyone went out on the connector as I headed back towards the car to pick up the girls from the party.  Put in more than three hours bringing myself to about seven hours of trail riding on the weekend.  I love my mountain bike, it was some quality time in the saddle.

I have fallen one too many times this spring, and three of these times have been the slow motion, "oh shit, I am really going to get messed up on this one" moments.  I have been doing everything I can to try to be safe on the bike, but I guess sometimes the bad moments just find you.  I was having problems on the path in the afternoon, so I started riding early in the morning.  Typically I am leaving the building at 5 AM and hitting the path nine minutes later at 5:09.  It has been pretty good.  Low traffic, pleasant weather.  Today was supposed to be an easy day with a few short efforts thrown in for good measure.  As I finished the first sprint I was feeling strong, so I kept the gas on.  Watching my speed more than the power it felt good to put on the cruise control and be at ~25 MPH.  Every ten minutes I figured I throw in the sprint and I would finish an hour later.  The further along I got the faster I was going and holding the power numbers up.  It hurt, but it was not painful. 

Hit 55th and the turn off to go around promontory point.  This early there isn't anyone out there and the views are pretty nice so I made the left hook.  I got out to the furthest Eastern point before making the easy turn South and looked down at the computer, not for long, just the glance you take every 1/2 minute.  When I looked up there was a Chicago Squad car in the middle of the path coming straight at me.

And there it is, the instant slow motion.  "Oh Shit!" Lock up the rear brake, jam on the front.  Keep the back end down.  "I am totally going to slam into the car!" Lean forward, steer left.  "Why the hell is my back wheel all the way perpendicular at my right side?"  Sliding out, correct the turn.  Rear wheel whips around to the left side.  Unclip.  High side eject button.  Hit the ground.  Stopped. 2, maybe 3, seconds max.

Look behind me and the cops are getting out of the car.  They ask if I am alright and I give myself a once over.  They ask if I need an ambulance.  No, I was fine.  I struggled to get the chain back on the bike, more difficult than usual.  Well, it is because the wheel won't turn as it is rubbing against both of my chain stays.  The cops meanwhile are just standing there.  "I bet that was the biggest show you have seen out here in a while."  Again they ask me if I am alright, I say I just need to call for a ride.  They leave, I walk through the grass out to the path and get eaten by mosquitoes.  Good thing about wrecking at 5:30 AM is that you can run across Lake Shore Drive at random places since the traffic is still really light.

Julie came to my rescue and I walked to find coffee in the meantime.  The Starbucks happened to be three doors west of the diner cops go to in the morning and I saw my new friends getting out of their car.  They saw me carrying my bike.  "Is your crank screwed up?" "No, the wheel is trashed.  The path isn't such a good place to be driving a car." Silence.  On the bright side, the registers were not working at the coffee shop so I got my espresso for free.

I guess one of the reasons I am having more "problems" this year than last is that I am on my bike about 100 times more trying to be a good cyclist.  So, feeling strong and riding the bike is good.  I am again just wishing I was not doing this in Chicago.