Woodbridge National and Monkeys

It's been pretty busy since the Monkeys arrived last wednesday, what with all the catching up and the race at the weekend, day tripping in DC yesterday to Madame Toussards (sp), I haven't had much time to update.

So the Monkeys arrived and it's been great having them here. Being a typical bloke I never think about missing friends from home, but when they are around you realize how important they are, so it's been a good fun week. Sadly, they go home tomorrow, but I think I may kidnap little Bobbin for an extra week. She is gorgeous and full of fun and inquisitiveness. She has been as 'good as gold' and I think she might have even provoked maternal feelings in the wife too!! I think they have had a good time here, so maybe this will be an annual affair.

If anybody wants a good giggle watch Rich try and put up the baby pram/stroller. You'd have thought it was rocket science the time he took.. my wife was very amused! :)

Friday we headed to Woodbridge, VA for practice and to register for the national. The weather was good and we had a great turn out for an east coast national. Around 125 motos each day. Some heavy hitters were there in the Pro ranks which was awesome to see - JRich, Pohlkamp, Becerine, DR, Upshaw, Randy amongst others. Their first straight pull has to be seen to be believed. Upshaws jump to manual over the first doubles and around the first corner had to be seen. It was pretty sick. He then promptly manualled the last straight and went from about 5th to 2nd whilst looking over at DR in the process. The kid has skills.

Well the last few nationals I have attended my class has sucked, with almost no riders there. This weekend we ran quarters saturday, and only 1 rider short of quarters sunday. To say it was stacked would be an understatement. Anybody in the semis could have won the finals. W2 Bill Young (made the final with Marco in Canada last yr in 25-29) went out in the semis saturday, but came back for a great win on sunday, sliding under me in the first corner and pulling away. Saturday I rode out of my skin, I had no choice, every lap was a final. I won my quarter and then in the semi ballsed up and dropped from 2nd to 6th on the third straight. Thankfully I built the last straight and swooped under two guys to grab fourth and qualify with a little local knowledge. Come the final I got a good pop, but so did 7 other guys and we all hit the first corner together. I don't know how we never went down but I came out in third and managed to hold it to the line. I was absolutely stoked. I couldn't have asked for more.

Sunday, 2 moto transfer, so again it was flat out. I took 2 2nds so I qualified for the semi. We were only 1 rider short of quarters again, that would have finished me off. Come semi's I drew gate 3 and somehow got a blinder and won comfortably. Pressure was off and I had made 2 finals in a really stacked class. It was a great feeling. The final I had gate 4 next to W2 Bill Young. I got a blinder again and was leading all the way down the first straight until I hit the first corner. I tried to avoid the mud at the bottom and left a gap, Bill and Pat Parker dived in and pushed me up the berm. I came out in third and Bill was gone. I tried to hang on to Pats back wheel but to be honest I was suffering by the third straight and decided third was better than binning it. Bill and Pat put a few bikes on me, but I was so happy, I really didn't care. This was the toughest race I had done since moving here and considering I am 34 and Bill is 27ish, to pull down the first straight like I did has left me grinning like a 17yr old virgin at the Playboy Mansion!

My sponsor, Jamie from Groovemerchants.net was there. Good to ride well for him and he also made the final on sunday in his class after some time off the bike so I think he was happy. My buddy Jason tooks wins both days and Bruce was in the mix was a third and fifth I think. Good stuff for all us VA old boys...

Rich rode much better sunday after struggling a little saturday. He still has great gates and plenty of pull, and he was starting to relax and ride better. 2 3rds took him through to the 30-34 Cr final. He had it tough though, with Jayson Lindsay, Pfieffer and Ezell Johnson, national 4, 1 and 2 respectively, but he pulled a great gate and first straight and was fighting all the way with the guy in 4th, just losing out on the line. I think Rich has the racing bug back though and with some practice on his skills he can be back up there again for sure.

Check out go211.com for the videos, particularly Elite Men and Elite Masters on Sunday. Nuts.

Jog on..

Its raining..

Too bloody true it's raining. It was that loud last night it woke me up several times. This on top of thunderstorms all day yesterday has left most places flooded. The ride to work was slow and awful cos of the weather too. Not a pleasant start to the week, but more importantly it may have done considerable damage to our track before the National this coming weekend. Fingers crossed for some blazing sun to dry the place out.

So the weekend was good for the most part. I got a nice little ride on Friday night on the cruiser to stretch the legs, although I did get a few mozzy bites. I guess the white legs attracted them and I am a pretty tasty morsel if I do say so myself. Friday evening friends from Philly arrived and we had a few drinks and caught up. It was good to see them again. Jaci and Jay are happy people and the wife was happy to catch up with Jaci I am sure.

Saturday morning I shot off early to Woodbridge for gate practice. There was a really good turnout. A good bunch of pros and older riders. I felt like I got my pull going really well, even though I was on flats for most of the session and running a 44-16t. It seems that nearly everybody drops down to a 43-16t for Woodbridge but I was still staying with people. I am going to run a 41-15t, just for that extra little bit of spin. Woodbridge gets pretty tech after the first corner and not much room for overtaking or cranking so I guess it makes sense. It was a good session though and bloody hot, way into the 80's so I got nicely burnt and now have a glowing forehead.

After Woodbridge we hit up 495 trails. The big line was running and all the trail bosses were killing it and Lance Maguire and Eric Posey hit it after a couple of runs and were smoothing it. I am not ready for it yet, but it's my goal for this summers riding. I got through the main line after a few tries so I was pleased. They are not big, but tight and steep, so being a racer I either landed flat bottom or squashed it. Took me a while to relax and let the bike float over the jumps, but once I got it into my head I started to flow thru them quite nicely. The S&M def rides better than the One did at the trails that's for sure. Saving best 'til last I managed to crash on the smallest of small doubles. Its feckin tiny, about 2ft high, 5ft wide and slightly steeper landing, it kept popping me and I over shot into the face of the next double. Muppet! And scuffed my $60 Profile seat in the process to. All good for the soul though. By this point my head had turned a new shade of red so I decided to call it quits before I looked like an extra on Deliverance..

Saturday afternoon was family time and little Shanes 2nd birthday. We had a great afternoon, all the families together. Shane was super excited and running around in his sisters Princess dress. Very funny. Why can you get away with this when you are 2though? If my wife ever caught me running around in one her dresses I would have a lot of explaining to do. I don't by the way, well when I say I don't what I really mean is I do and she just hasn't caught me yet.

So somehow I ended up ruining a very good day, by being an arse to the wife. Papa Smurf is having an operation this coming week, I hadn't taken much notice of it to be honest and basically I kind of poo poo'd it all. Oops. I dug a very large hole for myself and really upset her. I acted like a wanker, no two ways about it. Sorry fartknocker, I love you.

Sunday we awoke to heavy rain, rain and more rain. So it was a day of painting and pootling around the crib (crib, what am I on about... like I'm a gangster?). I have nearly finished painting the lounge now, I just need to get to the bit of wall above the stairs which I can't reach or get a ladder too. A conundrum for sure.

Well, the Monkeys are here on Wednesday so we are really looking forward to that and seeing little Bobbin. I have to get nappies (diapers) and some baby food before they arive, although I haven't found Weetabix and Fromage Frois yet so not sure about that. Lets hope they bring some good weather.

Best do some work, got a lot on this week and as luck would have it, a client wants dinner on Wednesday night and I am at the airport. Maybe I could have dinner at Dulles.. :)

nowt much

It's been a funny old week. I've accomplished much. Things have been really up in the air with work with my boss resigning. It has really thrown a spanner in the works and has left my office rather rudderless to say the least. I have to step up to the plate and get some things done and said, because I don't really want to be screwing around and waiting for the board to make decisions. Both myself and the PM who has moved into a more sales role, are not overly experienced Bus. Dev people, so we have a pretty tough hill to climb. Daunting and I am a little worried by it all too.

Monday, I hit the jump squats again. Have to say I am noticing the difference, but it really takes a good 3 days before I am over them. I guess I am putting in the effort. One thing for sure, I rolled up at gates on Weds without my clips, lets just say I gave a few of the chaps a pasting. I think I was one of about 3 or 4 people on flats. It's a nice feeling when you make the young 'hotshots' (in their minds at least) look stupid. I constantly reminded them I am 34 and on flats, the calling out business annoys the shit out of me. Just ride your damn bikes, nobody gives a crap about your 3rd moto at some hick race 2 years ago. Its bmx, nothing else. Still it was good to stretch the legs and lets hope some of the effort pays off next weekend for Woodbridge National. Top 3 both days is my aim, but I know its going to be a lot harder in reality. Still I want to win every lap when I am on the gate, regardless who is next to me. Got to be positive.

Off to a meeting shortly with Doc MaGee. I thought this was just a cool nickname, turns out he really is a Dr and ex US Army Rangers. I'm guessing he takes no poop from anyone. Going to talk about some up coming opportunities that my company and his can partner on.

The Pope has been in town this week, so DC has been super busy and the wife has been stuck in the middle of it. She has had a tough week again, but finally she talked to her boss and that helped loads I think. Last night she got home at 6pm, bloody miracle. We sat outside and had a drink in the sun, then headed off to the Mexican for dinner and an early night. It was nice to have her to myself for an evening. We also learned that I can read her mind when we play "rock, paper, scissors" - 7 in a row we threw the same 'object'. We have friends staying with us tonight from Philly (same place as the Fresh Prince!) and gate practice in the morning. lovely jubbly

Jog on..

RM59

RM59? For those young enough not to know, it's the nickname for Robbie Miranda, bmx legend and now Sheriff in CA somewhere. Also, he grew up in Woodbridge just down the road from me in VA. When I first got back into riding again at Uni in about 96/97, I bought a Props video and made everyone watch it in the common room in my hall. Robbie's trails are on there and on saturday I got to ride them! Legend......ary! OK, so they are not the trails Robbie rode, they are undoubtedly smaller and a lot of the locals didn't even know who RM59 was, but the point is I got to ride there. It's like riding Sheep Hills in CA, the scene is synonymous with Robbie's name and that makes it pretty darn cool to me. Good thing is I also hit everything as well. OK, those of you that rode trails with me in England know that a) I'm crap at trails and b) they obviously weren't all that big. I'm guessing nothing more than 20ft and nothing over about 6 or 7ft high, but it was fun and great for my confidence and learning new skills. Still, it pissed it down after an hour and that was the end of the session, but it left me on a high all weekend.

So I've been putting the hours in on the bike over the last week, rode everyday since last mondays weights session and to be honest I'm fooked now, my legs are like jelly.

I hit gate practice friday night out at Severn, in Maryland. Rode with some of the Felt team (Matt Kelty and Austin Loebbe) and my good buddie Chris Agard. Chris is in my class and let me say this he rips, flats or clips, he will kill anybody down the first straight. He was on Kelty's backwheel most of the night. Kelty is 19 and A pro, Chris is 34 and has a family! He has trained super hard this winter and its showing, I was a couple of bike lengths behind all the time, even if I had my disco slippers on it wouldn't have made any difference. Props due for sure. We had a good session and Matt almost tripled the third straight. Bubba Harris is the only person to have done it so far, but I think Matt will get it before the summer is done. I managed to jump out of the step-up and into the rollers. Something I have been wanting to do for a while. It's not a big gap at all, just very tricky. Also, got the bump jumps down on the last straight, hit them all. Damn it feels good.

Saturday did some work at Woodbridge track ready for the national in a few weeks. Northern Monkey and family will be here for that one so it should be a fun weekend. Nothing to scare you Rich, just learn to pedal manual this week :)

Sunday went out to Winchester to help the guys with their track rebuild. This place is coming on a treat and I reckon if they could get it properly surfaced it would be the best track in VA. It's got some big jumps, some technical jumps, it's long and suits power riders and tech riders. Wait that's a proper bmx track, whats going on! They are getting the start hill and first and last berm paved this week. Have to give a shout to Kevin Lochner and Jason Morgan for the effort these guys have made as well as Chad Powers for helping them on the initial rebuild, its looking good.

OK, so I've been doing a bucket load of riding, so there has to be a catch. The wife has been really good about letting me get in a lot of riding and training. She knows I had a poop winter with a bad knee and cold weather, so I've been very lucky. Normally I only ride one day at the weekend so we can do stuff together the other, but she has been super cool the last few weeks. I think she has a secret plan though. It's her 30th soon, I think I am going to get a "well I let you ride all the time so I want something sparkly for my birthday" kind of comment. She probably deserves it and is very patient with me seeing as I am a muppet most of the time. I guess the Harley will have to wait until after her 30th then!

witness

nope, i didn't see some old dear get mugged or gangbangers rob some dude for his rims (I actually don't know what I've just written there, not in touch with the yoof out here!). Anyway, it was a beautiful day yesterday so I hit up Severn ABA track with a couple of mates for some riding. Shorts and t-shirt, yes please. It was warm.
So local ripper Eric Posey was there, this kid can ride, I mean seriously ride. For you brits think DC, for my america amigos think Upshaw (just less shiznit!). We have a six pack on the last straight, about 5 ft tall and about 7ft wide. They are trailsy and fun, but useless when you want to hit them fast in a race. So Eric picks up way in front of them manuals the whole straight, ok that was cool. I've done it once or twice as well. Next time he picks up and bump jumps each one - ie taking off from the back wheel each time. This is a little more serious. I have a go, make the first one, sketchy as fook on the second and decide I'm too old for that sh1t. Next time round he bump jumps the first one, lands in a manual, bump jumps the second and manuals the rest of the straight. At this point people seriously went nuts, it was feckin unreal and he did all this at race speed, not playing, he was hauling! respect was due. For those of you that saw Kyle Bennett bump jump Orlando's doubles on the first straight a few years back that what it was like in terms of sheer ability and skill. It wasn't a balls to the wall huck, or a 20ft stair gap where you need nuts the size of bowling balls, nope this was pure skill and it was unreal. It wasn't something that could be taught, it was based on pure talent and I am glad i witnessed it cos its about the best bit of riding i've seen over here. Eric, I tip my hat to you my friend, that was a little special.

Needless to say the session got pretty fired up after that, some hard first straights with the guys which was awesome, I hit the first straight doubles backwards - huck to flat bottom, i thought it was going to be harder than that - i transferred from the first straight doubles to last straight doubles too. Came up a little short the first time, but all was good.

my wife has had a tough week at work this week, poor thing. I am going to buy her a little present at dinner time to cheer her up. I worry a lot about her, she gets a lot of sh1t and takes a lot on with her job. Fartknocker I love you.

bugger

..i've just deleted the post I had written!

Ok, so I was saying that my boss has resigned for a better position. I am really pleased for her personally, she is a fantastic and honest person to work for and I have learnt loads from her. I shall miss her though, but the opportunity was too good and I would have done the same. I will inherit a lot more responsibility, not least leading the sales conference calls. That in itself is fine, I am a gobby arse, so happy to hear my voice, but there is a lot involved with prepping for the meeting so my workload will increase.. but thats good for me I think.

So whilst off to do sprints last night, i cycled past a charming young thing, all blonde and smiley. i guess she was laughing at me being on a bmx and why not? I'm 6ft 1" and almost 200lbs, I look an arse at the best of times. Anyway, after my session she is walking back the other way and again smiles, this time she starts talking. Not easy to hear over my ipod and Janes Addiction, so I stop. She launches into how cool my little bike is, where can she get one, why do I ride it etc? Obviously being the cool customer i am, i dont at all go red, get slightly excited over her northern european lilt and mention my wife in the first sentance!! Damn and bollox, how difficult can it be to talk to a girl in a tight t-shirt and shorts who had worked up a bit of a sweat??? I am soo glad my wife talked to me first, I am bloody useless at talking to pretty girls..

Also, turns out I'm a bit of a terrorist too. I look like one obviously, whatever one may look like that is. I do my sprints on a long quiet street, with only about 6 houses, so no through traffic. The guy at one end always says hello and I am very polite as he's a big ugly bastard and has a giant rottweiler/lab mix, the thing's nuts. He is the local community warden, whatever its called, turns out all the old folks have been complaining to him about me on my bike. He's a nice chap and pointed out my taxes pay for the road as much as his and i should keep riding my bike. Good on him, cos i didnt have the balls to make that comment to him first. However, quite frankly I was pooping it just looking at his dog, if he had let that thing loose I would have been history so I was going to go with what ever he said anyway. Still I might find another street for a while before the 'olds' get me arrested for over zealous use of the loud pedal.. the S&M.38Special.. :)

Jog on..

buttocks!

Ah, one of the finer things in life, like a good wine, a good pair of buttocks can start the day well.

I have two thoughts on buttocks today. Firstly mine are very sore! Nope, my wife didn't roger me in my sleep, instead I dived into the Jump Squats, alluded to in a previous posting. Let me tell you, if the pain I am feeling today is an indication of the increased explosive power I'm going to gain then its worth it. If not, I am walking tentatively round my office like a penis for no reason at all!

Second thought on buttocks, and one slightly more disturbing. I am reading the autobiography of General, Sir Mike Jackson, until recently head of the British Army. He has head a stellar and interesting career to say the least and if I'm on honest I am slightly envious of those who are able work up the military chain. A far more interesting life style is lead for sure. So the buttocks thing. Well Mr Jackson is in Bosnia right now according to my book. Bosnia was, maybe still is, a pretty nasty place during the conflict there in the mid 90s. He has come across three Croat soldiers executed in a field.. with their trousers down. It turns out that the hatred between these warring factions is so intense that they had been buggered whilst being executed! Can you imagine that? Fookin Mookin! I could not get this image out of my head all night. Not only are you taking your last breath, but some body is violating you at the same time, horrific! I am now glad I am not a soldier!!!

scrambled eggs and bacon?

Bugger! So I go to a folder on my PC which has, or should have, a load of information and brochures concering Server Virtualization - a service my company provides - and the folder is empty, nada, zip, zero! What the feck! More than slightly concerned right now to say the least. I hadn't touched the info in a while, but typically someone wanted it today to update and its not there. Bollox, feck, arse! At least I know what I'll be doing for the next few days.

So I hit gate practice last night down at Woodbridge NBL track. Damn good turnout for a wednesday evening and we were managing to run 2 or 3 gates full of 15+ experts which made it a good work out. After a couple of runs to get used to NBL gates again, I got my gates dialled in and was snapping hard on the new bike. I was super pleased and considering my crappy winter training, I was hanging pretty well and even put down a few flyers with some of the Single A's. Who knows how hard they are trying, but it did my confidence good. I've got to work on the pick up, pedal manuals for the first double tho, I was a little rusty, but its been 5 months since I last rode at Woodbridge so I can't complain. I guess the hard work I've been putting into the sprints the last month or so helped. I would have had my arse handed to me if I'd not been doing them. I've got to work on my first 5 pedals a little more, I still feel weak there. Jump squats is what I've been advised to do, so we'll see how much that helps. The Woodbridge track was running good though, a little sandy in places but considering nothing has been done over the winter, it was pretty darn good. However, looks like the weather isn't playing ball for our State Race and Pro/Am this weekend. Gutted, as I was looking forward to that and I heard we had a truck load of people coming from across the East to race and have fun. We'll see but I have a sneaky feeling it will be cancelled.

Yesterday I went to AFCEA NETCENTS 2 seminar for the Air Force. I thought it was going to be a boring morning, but I actually found I enjoyed it and learned a lot. Am I growing up? Bad thing was I missed the breakfast. I thought it would be weak Tea and sticky buns like the MOD back home, turns out the US Govt enjoys a good breakfast with my taxes. Damn. next time I'll go early and hit the breakfast. Scrambled egg and bacon? Yes please. Fresh orange juice sir? ooh, marvellous, fill 'er up chap..

Off to MaccyD's for a McMuffin, I've just made myself hungry. Don't tell the wife, she'll only want one too :)