Holiday is Over Biyatches!

UCI race day #1 Southampton NY has come and gone and the team has definitley taken a few lumps. The fact that I have no UCI points dooms me to start in about the fourth row, meaning the back. I would complain more about how I was so far back and it was so hard to move up, but Ben Jacques-Mayne was dissed on call ups and started right next to me and T Wolf (Wyandt). The start was a long and fast pavement stretch which would dump us onto the course and funnel us down into a rocky dry stream crossing. Every one in front of me hit the brakes and we came to a near halt. By the time I hit that ditch, the front of the race was gone by about a minute. I was shut down by some sketchy riding and a hack-pass by Troy Wells on lap 1, what he was doing behind me with a second row call up I have no idea. Maybe it was because he was riding Wicks' spare bike which he was calling the "clown bike".

I struggled to find my rhythm for the first 3 laps and had a hard time moving up through the field. I could see Josh up the road in a big group and Wyandt a bit behind me. As I descended off the top of the course I could see that Ben had joined the front group and attacked it! He would be caught and finish up in 6th place. I got caught by a dude from Target training and as he rolled by me I focused on sticking to his wheel and attacking out of every corner. We started moving forward, caught Snead who had crashed and with 3 to go we caught a group which cointained six guys vying for 13-18th spot. I could sense they were starting a cat and mouse game and with 2 to go I attacked them and caught the dude in 12 place, hoping I would be able to split the group or even stay clear. When I looked back I had all but 2 guys on my wheel and no one would pull through. I sat up hard on the last lap and hopped on the back of the bus. I was dreading the sprint and decided to make one last move at the top of the course in a corner I had totally dialed, but I completely botched it and came off the back by two lengths.

I would spend the rest of the lap trying to get on before the sprint and was totally done when we hit the finishing straight. I was a bit deflated as I had ridden into the points and was too tired to sprint and would finish in 17th just 2 spots out of those all important UCI points. Really, though, just making it to that group was pretty huge and I certainly didn't hold back at all. I had the worst cross gut all night and nearly cleared out the super market we were shopping at with my 'King Kullen' gas.

Simon.

Holiday in the Hamptons

It's the night before Southampton UCI #1 and all through the house, not a sound can be heard except Sneed watching TV on the couch. Actually, we have arrived and we are supposed to be joined by Rude (Troy Wells) and another couple of racers but right now it's just me and Josh chilling in a sweet pad with two dogs and cats. We have cable, a flat screen, a basement with tools and laundry and are situated on a quiet cul de sac with neighbors who I have yet to see. Ah tranquility, and really nice to be out of town.

I should tell you about the first part of my journey, which started with a few glitches. In hind sight, I probably shouldn't have accepted an offer from my ex-girlfriend Melinda, to drop me off at the airport. But I did, and seeing as we have been going through shit for the last 2.5 years, I should not have been suprised that she would flick me at the last minute. A call at midnight informing me that I was on my own left me scrambling to reconfigure my plans. The next morning I was up early, finishing my packing and rushing to Marin Co. to meet Josh and Barb. In the end it all worked out and I cultivated a little extra anger to dish out on the competition.

Our flight was ontime and we arrived in NY about 11pm and began to drag our stupid bike boxes onto a crowded train that seemed to just go in circles and load up on passengers. Finally we found our Budget rental and we piled into our Mini Van, the sweet one we like with the seats that stow into the floor. Josh turned the radio on and was psyched to find Pantera and cranked it to 11 while some how managing to get the vehicle to peel out as we got back on the road. A couple of hours later we had spanned most of Long Island and pulled into our new digs about 2PM eastern time. It would have been best to hit the sack right off, but we decieded to watch the history of the hotdog on the history channel and stayed up much later than necessary. I do know much more about hotdogs though.

Today we built our bikes up and checked out the Southhampton course, which is mostly bumby turf with two rocky dry stream crossings and a monster hill which will be super hard to ride up every lap. Josh has some UCI points so he should recieve a call up while I have but one and will be lucky to get a starting position better that the 3rd row. I am gonna put the legs up and get ready for the big fight tommorow. Oh, boy looks like the Worlds Ugliest Dog Competition has just begun, gotta go...

simon

the journey to the east

Yes, the boys are off to the big show, first South hampton, then Gloucester. I hear that some storms are coming through so there will be some mud that Sneadster can ply with his newly purchased treads from the old country. Keep tabs on the result in cyclingnews .com or right here if Simon gets a chance to log in.

yer socks

Socks are here ........are we argyle enough for ya?

CCCX #1

Manzanita Park in Prundale, Ca. was the venue for the first test of the '06 'cross season. HRS Rock Lobster was in full effect, putting themselves on the podium in all categories.

My race began in the blazing midday sun and was held on a loose, sandy and dusty course. Luckily, we had some big talent in Barry Wicks and a flying Chris Mcgovern to contend with. As Josh and myself are flying to NY on thursday for our first UCI races of the season, it was good to get a dose of the pain we can expect next weekend.

Wicks started hard and looked ready to ride away with it from the gun. I was in third spot and decided to try and move onto his wheel and stick as long as possible and hope some of the guys would come up too. Barry was ripping and I spent two laps sucking wheel the best I could. It was cool to be there and it was hurting a bit, but not too bad, yet. Barry slipped his bars a little and while asking for a tool from his girlfriend, I went around him and punched it a little. He rode my wheel for a lap and then started working on his bike as I tried to keep the pace high as I could tell that Chris McGovern was about to make contact.

At this point I was getting a bit tired and decided to fall in between the two "fast guys" and try to recover a little. I wasn't recovering and Chris was getting a little sloppy, but still pedaling really hard. He bobbled in the middle of the lap four to go and Wicks just rolled away. I was too tired to bridge and was hoping I could last till the end and maybe sneak away on the last lap. Maybe riding with Barry took more out of me than I knew but I lost contact with Chris at about two to go and it looked like he was going to succeed in making the bridge back to the front. I would end up getting some luck when he pinched the rear with a lap and a half remaining and I could speed past him, into second place.

The race was still not over, and although I didn't catch Barry, I was concerned with the late race charge from Mark Noble who probably would have caught and passed me had we a couple more laps remaining. That is one tough mofo. Luckily we only race an hour and I was able to grit it out to second place.

So now it's recovery time and packing up for the first trip to the East Coast. Will keep you posted on the adventures.

Simon.

Bang, Bang !

Hey, how do you like your team now? Michael Landry 3rd in Juniors.........Stella and Shelley pretty much running the store in the womens "A" catagory, 2nd and 3rd respectively......Simon duking it out with Barry Wicks and Chris McGovern winding up 2nd. Our man Snead did a respectable top 10 and A.K. was only a hair behind. Rob Evans was smokin' on the single speed finishing strong. Dodgeball, seldom seen Joe Walsh and even birthday boy Aaron Odell shwed up and raced. We have a new woman on the squad, Rona Hung........and she Hung in there pretty well. Larry showed better skills on the transitions, no doubt from our Friday rides. Julie Brothers looks to be stepping it up from last year. Faithfully working in the pit was our mechanic Ryan and on various brass instruments we had the Chapster.There will no doubt be more noise from this squad.

Busy weekend at LobsterVille

Friday Night Simon and I decided to do some team training and watch Paul play with his band down at the old Surf City Bowling alley.
This was our toast off for Simon (and Snead) as the sign of the beginning of the season.

Sunday would be the first test for the team as there would be some heavy hitters at CCCX #1 which will be a good test to what would be to come.

Sunday CCCX #1

Coming this sundy the team will be down at Manzanita park participating in CCCX #1.
I hear there should be some good action in both Mens and womens field. Barry Wicks from Kona is supposed to be onsite for his season starter and you never know who else we be there.

The HRS-Rocklobster boys will be racing, so will the ladies in their new kits.

check back for race reports etc.
More info on the event can be found here; http://www.cccx.org/2006/index.shtml
*note Simon is the main photo on their site. :) Nice!

Sneads rolling

Well it looks like Snead is rolling to a good start too. Even though it was a Lemans start. Blat..

Sac series #1. Josh - 2nd place A's
Photo listed : www.racemtb.com

Howdy Everybody,

Well, if our team shindig wasn't the ringing in of the new season, then I guess DFL urban outlaw cross dress series race #1 was. Held after work in the SF Fog at Golden Gate park, it finally felt like fall and 'cross had arrived.

As usual, the DFL race consisted of throngs of dress wearing freaks, out of shape and in shape 'crossers and 'cross dressers. The course was excellent for a totally sketchy, loose, gravely, hidden log, and dog poop littered area. Really the best $5 money can buy. This event pulled in more than 100 contestants, and Russ and Nancy Wright were on hand to photog. the occasion. (Check WWW. Abbiorca.com for visual evidence.) Since I love beating up on Cameron, I had to make the trip and I was accompanied by Mr. Chapman himself. We arrived early, which meant there was time to pin on a number and do a lap, hopefully burning the sketchy course into memory before we cracked it open mere moments later.

If you don't want to be stuck in traffic, you must line up in the front row. That is pretty much common knowledge but in a DFL race that means you will ride right into the traffic after 2 laps or so. I followed Cam and John Funke (welcome back John!) for a lap or two and I think Rich Mahle was up there as well. Once we started riding into the back of the field I started to get antsy to be in the front of the race as the slower riders often impede your progress and you can get gapped really easily. Cam bobbled in a sandy corner and I just rolled around him and decided to apply the pressure for a while. He was hanging pretty good but I could feel him working hard. I decided to persist and even when I had a small gap I didn't feel certain I had him, yet. The funny thing is that you can come to an obstacle and there will be 10 people who all shut the course down as you come flying into it. Your small gap of, say, 10 seconds can be eliminated by the time they move out of the way and they might even keep the lane open for the dude you are trying to get away from.

Luck has a lot to do with racing DFL races but that's only half of it. I worked really hard to make the gap, keeping the pressure on for 3 or 4 laps. I could see Cam blow some turns and knew that it was time for the finishing blow. I hit the gas hard on the two run ups and had the gap I would hold till the end. It is always nice to get a gap that is big enough that you can not see your pursuers. Suddenly the race was over, the bell at the start/finish line which was ringing all day was actually ringing for the bell lap but I couldn't tell. Confusion runs rampant at these races which makes them all the better.

Well that is race report #1 for the season. HRS/Rock Lobster 1, all you other bitches 0.
Bang, bang. Simon.

argyle, buddy

Yes, this is real. Thanks to Stella the team motif has been immortalized in confection. Ya, sure.

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well, there's your team

Here is the team......wait, what is Will doing it the photo? Is this a defection from the ******* **** team? I geuss we'll see at the first race. I guess you can't ever count out one of the Jolly Rotters. Highlights of the party would be the metric ton of pasta brought by Loren Soltes, the flan from Simone Montez, the signed magnum of Cigare Volante from Karen Bullard and of course, the argyle cake from Stella . A truly magnificent spread of food and drink hosted by the Traugotts was the best way to cap off a grand day of launching this years Team HR solutions/Rock Lobster/Traugott guitars cyclocross squad. Look out,wooop- here we is.

tires eleven

Do you get the feeling that all baby Snead cares about are his new tires? I guess there are all kinds of addictions in this world. I just hope he doesn't get too wrapped up in it if things come unglued. Speaking of glue, our bunch was eleven strong yesterday, even without Brett Lambert or George Clooney. A new addition of the 14 year old Carl gave us a glimpse of the latest strong kid on the block. No doubt Carl will crush most of the other juniors his age....he can already see over their heads. There will be two more of these fabulous rides before the season starts so don't miss 'em.

Friday, you pansy get out and ride....

You call that cross racing???
Back when I was a kid, we used to cross race over canyons and trees.. We even had fenders... GRRR