Tuesday

Courtesy of the Nimrod:

a Kodak Gallery of the Mt. Hammy adventure.
Cap't Nimrod is a local racer who knows he can't climb Mt. Hamilton in the front group, so he rode the scooter behind the front group and shot a bunch of pics. here's some selected shots, all can be viewed at http://www.54x11.com/photos/Mt-Hamilton2006/. i didn't really want to languish in the increasing wind so getting home ASAP was key, so a big thanks to the Cap't for the pace on the way home. nothing like hanging on at 60 KPH to make the time fly by.

posted by Benjaminiac at Tuesday, May 30, 2006 1 comments  

Monday

Scaling the mountain


Photo Credit: Martin Brandt

I did the Mt. Hamilton RR on memorial day Sunday, it went well and I won the KOM and the race. My legs felt good and I wasn't really in difficulty on the hill, which was nice considering how many skinny climber types there were. It's also other's perception that just cuz you ride hard doesn't mean you don't suffer: it's a special day when you can work hard and feel like you are getting something out of it, instead of whacking your head against a wall.

I'll try and save that sensation for next week.

I've grown to love that loop out in the back valleys of the east bay, I've been riding it more and more and it just feels like a bit of an escape compared to the other bay area roads. Heavy traffic is five cars for 50 miles. Plus the terrain is great for training, it's hard to get out of there with fresh legs no matter how you take it.

I'm off to VA soon, a quick trip of 3 races in 4 days, then back home 'til Philly.

posted by Benjaminiac at Monday, May 29, 2006 4 comments  

Wednesday

New Kodakgallery features

i just got a Kodak Gallery premier account, it's a dedicated homepage where all my latest galleries can be found. i think it's cool, you can book mark it and get to my latest pics easily, and i don't have to keep on writing a bunch of HTML to get the links up on the website.

For racing pics (stuff i do for the team) it's:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/kgsn-ben

For personal pics (basically baby pics), it's:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/jacquesmayniacs

give it a click and check it out!

posted by Benjaminiac at Wednesday, May 24, 2006 0 comments  

Tuesday

Mt. Hamilton


for those who don't know, this is right out the door from my house, and a mile south of Sierra Rd., the killer of ToC. they're claiming 6000 feet total climbing but it's kinda front loaded: 4500 in the first 20 miles. and the last 25 miles are all downhill.

posted by Benjaminiac at Tuesday, May 23, 2006 3 comments  

Monday

A new member of the family



My mom just got a newfy puppy, and is she adorable. I'll be meeting her soon, i can't wait.

posted by Benjaminiac at Monday, May 22, 2006 3 comments  

strange fan mail, a race, and other random things

i got a strange post this week, a heavily postaged and marked up letter with a Victoria, Aus return. it was addressed to ben J-M, USA cyclist and then sent to the fed in CO. someone there forwarded it on to me and it turned out to be this (click on the letter for enlargement):



kinda strange, and i thought it was a hoax until another, identical letter showed up. both hand written, but word for word identical.

on another note, i did a small crit this weekend in Stockton, which turned out to have 5000 in prizes and not many people there, which boded well for my money-making potential. it rained the entire time, and i could see things were going to break up early, so i hit it repeatedly along with Jackson and we both made a group of 8 that went about a half a lap up. Jackson ended up rolling off with one guy and getting the W, while i ended up 4th.

a word to snot-nosed kids: if you ever plan on making it it cycling i suggest changing your attitude and the way you race. if you want to suck wheel and take short pulls cuz you're dying just to make the break that's fine, but you had better not shoot your mouth off like you did some awesome job. your head needs to shrink, and you have a lot to learn.

Finally, i wanted to mention my teammate Dan's recovery seems to be going nicely, here's the happy couple hanging in Canada:




read about his exploits here.

posted by Benjaminiac at Monday, May 22, 2006 21 comments  

Saturday

Cats Meow


here's a little race report i wrote from today's Cat's Hill Criterium. Pro 1/2 podium was 1st BJM, 2nd Wholeburg, 3rd Jackstone.

"From the start of the race Jackson and I agreed to be active and ride positively. We both wanted to show our abilities and also honor the race as previous winners. Jackson made an excellent counter of my first move and was away on the 5th lap, with four riders bridging up a little later. One of those went solo, and it turned out to be danger man Eric Wohlberg of the Symmetrics team.
"I knew it was imperative to make the bridge, so I bided my time and let a few other teams burn through riders and reduce the gap a bit. I hit hard on the hill for three consecutive laps, whittling down the riders marking me and the third time I was away. I closed on Eric within a lap, and all it took was a look between former teammates, and we were in full cooperation in our efforts to gain a lap on the field.
"Eric took some man-sized pulls, and I used my SRAM-Equipped Eddy Merckx Premium to maximum effect, resulting in our capture of the main pack with 10 laps to go. Just as we came around the field, a crash put a rider into dire straights requiring immediate medical attention, and the race was neutralized while emergency crews tended to the fallen rider.
"We were given a restart with only 2 laps remaining, and I can now say from experience that there's nothing quite like hitting the Cat's Hill with tired cold legs, a scintillating sensation let me assure you. I thought Eric was going to hit out hard the last time up the hill, but there was no attack and I used the "Trigger-Shift" only available with the SRAM Double-Tap Shifter to pour it on through the last corner to win by a healthy margin."

posted by Benjaminiac at Saturday, May 13, 2006 16 comments  

Tuesday

South Americans

Or, rather, southern americans live in the south. After being in GA, SC and
avoiding Alabama at all costs, I can say the south is it's own beast
entirely. We ran the gamut, cheap roadside motels to gated country-club
host housing. Southern hospitality is not a myth, we were greeted by many
and welcomed by (almost) all, the dude in the rusty pickup notwithstanding.



Here's us going on a bit of a ride in Alpharetta with MJ, our host for a few days. it is warm out as evidenced by Jesse's attire, and despite Jonathon's, who had an excuse with the amount of ink in him. Jackson has no excuse, he just needs to sweat off a few pounds.

posted by Benjaminiac at Tuesday, May 09, 2006 4 comments  

Friday

I knew...

someone's been busy with the photoshop.



view the Team Wrong Waywebsite for the original thread WHO KNEW??

posted by Benjaminiac at Friday, May 05, 2006 3 comments  

Silly bike racer, Crits are for gitbags

we're racing the USA Crit series.

posted by Benjaminiac at Friday, May 05, 2006 2 comments  

Thursday

we're in SC

and that's not Santa Cruz. South Carolina isn't anything close to Surf City.

there's a few big money crits going on, the USA Crit series, wheee what fun racing in the dark with a bunch of hopped up gitbags who are willing to hit the deck in order to get past you for 14th place. it's been okay for the team no one's gone down too hard and we're getting in the groove. now to move into the top five...

time for sleep.

posted by Benjaminiac at Thursday, May 04, 2006 0 comments  

some leftovers from ToG

i found these pics from the brasstown bald day:



this is at 2k to go, you can see how much ground there is still to cover: the top is the little building above the fire engine.


this is the crowd migrating back down to their cars, which are over 4 miles away down the hill.


posted by Benjaminiac at Thursday, May 04, 2006 0 comments