Any advice for a Crit Rookie?

I think I might jump into the B race tomorrow night. I love cyclocross, that first lap feeling where you are all cattle herded together and you weave your way through people — but that is twice as slow... The road makes me a little weary, and that makes me a worse rider. I have shied away from road racing since last year but I think it is time to conquer my fears and have some fun.

What I learned from my lame Cat 5 road race last year:
– Be closer to the front
(If I have the legs I will try to do some work, maybe cover a break)
– Don't race in the middle of the pack if you are not comfortable
(I might race on the outside until I feel safe)

I might ride up to Ault Park tonight and recon the course so I feel all the more comfortable. I also need to get a bunch of junk out of my legs — I did two straight days of hilly centuries last weekend.

Riding hills for 6 hours? Stop off for a cupcake "powerbar" at Sugar in Milford!

Crashed on the road last Friday night. The marketing Wiz's must see my roadrash budget and started marketing to me using cycling imagery!

A rainy day on the Giro's Strade Bianchi. Crashes, chasing, cross-like conditions. Vino keeps wiping the mud and rain out his eyes, looks like he is suffering. Evans's rainbow jersey is covered in mud. What a race! Bellisimo!

Bikeorexia

I don't think I am being a weight weenie. I feel a little duped being the owner of a 27 lb. mountain bike that did not come from WalMart.

Minus the replaced derailleur my 2008 Gary Fisher Paragon is pretty much out-of-the-box, including running tubes. Here is a link to BikePedia for the specs for the bike.

I do have some new, lighter tires and some rim strips I am planning install. Running tubeless will really help some of that rolling weight.

I have a smidge of cash right now, about $300-400. I was looking at the Bontrager Race X Lites. I would like to ask a question of my faithful, experienced, wise readers: Should I pick a lighter wheelset and shave off a mere 300 grams of rolling weight? Or just save the mulah?

In the future a lighter set of cranks may be in order, and perhaps a cheap buy like a Thomson Masterpiece seatpost may help as well. Any other ideas for a cheap racer?

Findlay-Roubaix

This cobbled street is on my way up to the Market. It gives me a great bouncin' around when I take the steel Jamis — but today the Redline Conquest with carbon fork and seat post was a nice reprieve.

One of these days I want to patch together an alleycat race (combined with Easter Egg hunt?) using a lot of these cobbled sections in Over-The-Rhine. It's cool to feel Cincinnati history in your bones!

Still finding Mud in dark places after DSG09

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Super cool video from last year's Dirt, Sweat and Gears (which I called Mud, Tears and Beers). This guy passes me at the Le Mans style start at 0:26 in the video! He passes another Trek Store rider (Bridget? Me? Jacob?) at about 2:19.

From 2009 Cycling Yearbook