Sunday, November 15, 2009

Bubba #7

This month, I'm doing a rotation on the autopsy service, which has been very interesting so far. The coolest thing has been working with the cops and learning about the ways in which bullets are designed to kill people. Since I'm a pacifist, that is all new shit too me, and really insane. Anyway, one of the things that I had the pleasure of doing this past week of 'cutting-in' a brain. Which means: every dead person that gets an autopsy has their skull opened, brain removed, then sectioned like a bread loaf to see if there's any bleeds, tumors, etc. When you actually cut a brain up into 1cm slices, it is quite difficult since the consistency of brain is pretty much the same as a fucking jello mold.

If I would have died right after the race today, and someone would have 'cut-in' my brain, they would have found a melted blob of gu, much more soft than jello.

Today's race was awesome. For a course description, go here

Since every word of coach Ryback's rhetoric is indeed true, I must give a big thanks to my teamates and everyone else who put that course together, cus it was awesome.

My race went well, I felt great today and only fell once (in that sandpit, on my face). I ended up top 10 again, which I'm super psyched about especially considering the following:
1. Despite all the talk about carbon wheels and tubulars being so much faster, one can still place top 10 with clinchers and used $350 wheels
2. I rode a hard pack tire in back today (Kenda Small block 8), so apparently tires don't matter all that much either.
3. I put my front wheel on backwards (because I'm a moron), so my michelin mud tire was actually set up for low resistance, not mud.

In no way do I mean the aforementioned statements to sound like I'm talking shit...all I'm saying is that the whole deal about cross specific, high-end equipment probably doesn't matter as much at a local race in missouri as some would like to think. Of course, I didn't win this race...maybe I would have been better with more fancy stuff and without so much haste in setting up my bike; but who knows.

5 comments:

Davey B said...

great racing from you this season!

as far as the equipment goes I can only say I strongly disagree. even though it's always about the engine first, having good equipment makes a huge difference, especially when you are talking about tire tread/pressure and rotational weight. keep in mind this is coming from a guy who was sitting in second before his $$$ tire gave up the ghost and is pretty pissed about it.

i'm not saying you need this stuff for "local" racing, but for me, i love racing and really like a fine riding bicycle so i chose to spend my money on any advantage i can get (i don't have kids yet though and being a shop manager and getting a little sponsorship takes a lot of the sting out of it).

remember though, i'm well aware there is always going to be a guy who could ride away from all of us on a huffy.

Skeet Skeet said...

Dan, nice job. I wish I could finish that "high" up. Maybe next year... or next week.

Davey is right though, tubulars are not necessary but so much nicer to race on.

TeamSeagal said...

Dan, you make us all look bad. Geezleweez.

I don't know how much tubulars will make with my expertise at fading to the back of the pack... but I think next season I'll build up a set of light tubular "race" wheels. Since I don't have to build up a new CX bike, it'll be a little easier to make it happen.

All that being said, I can't really seem to push the limits of my clinchers (both small blocks.)

-CFR

Dan said...

yeah, you guys are all right. clearly tubulars are superior. I'll probably try and get some for next yeat and see if it would make a difference. i'm also going to see if i can borrow a set for one race this year (or maybe rent?) just as an experiment. for every 'A' race I've finished I've been somewhere 6th-9th. although there's always a ton of variables that go into race day performance (sleep the previous week, food, hydration, etc) it would be cool to see if tubulars made a difference.

my big issue this year has been that I already put some serious $ into my mountain bike and given that the tires for tubulars are $100ea, plus new wheels, there was no way it'll be happening.

martin said...

I agree with DB. I am light and can ride clinchers at 28psi, so it's not so much the air pressure of tubulars that are awesome for me. I just think they feel awesome. I only glued up my carbon wheels cause I had them, and was enticed by the idea. It's a bit overkill. Also, those used $350 wheels are actually a $900 wheelset. I have a set from a few years ago and they are still my favorite riding wheels. Nice race sunday, see you next week