I told Utah he'd have finished second coming in 30 seconds back.
The Heckle Report
- Thread starter The Heckler
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The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Weekend plans 11/4-6
No Bubble for me! I'll be taking a little break from racing for a weekend and have a couple longer days on the bike planned out.
EVEN MORE EXCITING
Zach is visiting and joining me for said longer rides! Stoked. Also planned is a trip down to the Philly bike expo on Saturday!!!
STOKE SO HIGH.
We'll pick this back up again next weekend for CSI, then Supercross Thanksgiving, NBX and maybe NCGP. There is also rumors of a race being promoted in part by Laughing Dog possibly the weekend after NCGP!
Then... NATZ!
No Bubble for me! I'll be taking a little break from racing for a weekend and have a couple longer days on the bike planned out.
EVEN MORE EXCITING
Zach is visiting and joining me for said longer rides! Stoked. Also planned is a trip down to the Philly bike expo on Saturday!!!
STOKE SO HIGH.
We'll pick this back up again next weekend for CSI, then Supercross Thanksgiving, NBX and maybe NCGP. There is also rumors of a race being promoted in part by Laughing Dog possibly the weekend after NCGP!
Then... NATZ!
What days are you racing?
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
if they aren't already filled Tuesday 20-29 and Saturday SS
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Cycle-Smart International - UCI Elite
Ouch, ouchouchouch.
This weekend I raced in Massachusetts at the 26th edition of Cycle-Smart international. Unfortunately I left my legs in New Jersey.
Power was off, couldn't make efforts, lactic acid was flooding in, nothing connected. I still had an enjoyable weekend but everyone I should have been racing with stuffed my face into the ground.
Saturday my call up was 78th and I actually managed to boogy up to midpack by the seconds corner. I held my line which put someone into a stake and caused a pretty good pile up in the hole shot. I'll see if I can get the video up here tonight.
Sunday was much a MUCH better call up. 38th which ended up being 4th row. WOAH!!!!! I was in 25 the first lap. After the first corner, a 180 degree right hander Dan Chabinov's bike EXPLODED and he foot down started bouncing towards my line. The sounds that bike were making were terrifying. I think he may have pulled his rear wheel out. He passed me a few laps later on the short run up. Basically stiff armed me and 2 other people with his bike while running and we mounted. Seriously, whenever that dude is anywhere near me the sky turns grey.
COURSE FEATURES!
Such a total mix. The bottom field is a series of high power straightaways split up by low speed corners on baseball infields (tough) the you move up to the top of the course in the "woods" for some technical corners and pretty fun brappy stuff. Saturday had 1 big run up with new high traction mulchy dirt and 1 smaller run up with loose dusty rocky dirt. The pro only feature was a straight down drop in with an open right hander at the bottom. I seshed the eff out of it Friday. The first time was the worst time, and I got pretty comfy with it quick. Mid race I had one near death experience when I dropped in on the wrong line and split ruts at the bottom. Pretty good adrenaline shot.
Sunday we ran up that drop in, ripped this RAD rooty off camber descent, ran up the mulchy run up, then immediately came straight down a different drop in with the hard left at the bottom. This drop in was a little more manageable then Saturday's, even with the corner at the bottom.
My highs from the weekend were pretty much surviving and coming to love all of the drop ins. I was definitely outside of my comfort zone which is always important to experience.
Super easy drive home last night, horrible sleep. Chin is up and looking forward to good sleep tonight and a couple days of solid recovery.
Visual media to follow.
Already looking forward to Supercross.
Ouch, ouchouchouch.
This weekend I raced in Massachusetts at the 26th edition of Cycle-Smart international. Unfortunately I left my legs in New Jersey.
Power was off, couldn't make efforts, lactic acid was flooding in, nothing connected. I still had an enjoyable weekend but everyone I should have been racing with stuffed my face into the ground.
Saturday my call up was 78th and I actually managed to boogy up to midpack by the seconds corner. I held my line which put someone into a stake and caused a pretty good pile up in the hole shot. I'll see if I can get the video up here tonight.
Sunday was much a MUCH better call up. 38th which ended up being 4th row. WOAH!!!!! I was in 25 the first lap. After the first corner, a 180 degree right hander Dan Chabinov's bike EXPLODED and he foot down started bouncing towards my line. The sounds that bike were making were terrifying. I think he may have pulled his rear wheel out. He passed me a few laps later on the short run up. Basically stiff armed me and 2 other people with his bike while running and we mounted. Seriously, whenever that dude is anywhere near me the sky turns grey.
COURSE FEATURES!
Such a total mix. The bottom field is a series of high power straightaways split up by low speed corners on baseball infields (tough) the you move up to the top of the course in the "woods" for some technical corners and pretty fun brappy stuff. Saturday had 1 big run up with new high traction mulchy dirt and 1 smaller run up with loose dusty rocky dirt. The pro only feature was a straight down drop in with an open right hander at the bottom. I seshed the eff out of it Friday. The first time was the worst time, and I got pretty comfy with it quick. Mid race I had one near death experience when I dropped in on the wrong line and split ruts at the bottom. Pretty good adrenaline shot.
Sunday we ran up that drop in, ripped this RAD rooty off camber descent, ran up the mulchy run up, then immediately came straight down a different drop in with the hard left at the bottom. This drop in was a little more manageable then Saturday's, even with the corner at the bottom.
My highs from the weekend were pretty much surviving and coming to love all of the drop ins. I was definitely outside of my comfort zone which is always important to experience.
Super easy drive home last night, horrible sleep. Chin is up and looking forward to good sleep tonight and a couple days of solid recovery.
Visual media to follow.
Already looking forward to Supercross.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
CSI MEDIA CATCH UP/SUPERCROSS WEEKEND PRECAP!
Eyyo! Got some CSI media which is late, but whatcha gonna do. Been a busy week.
Coming into the double railroad rack crossing - Day 1
The struggle continues - Day 1
I call this one "Just put me out of my misery." Janice happens to be Adam's babymomma. Janice has also taken some really nice photos of me over the years. Thanks for sharing, Janice!
Sunday - Technical tree corner. I still can't get into my 32T ring and just didn't have enough oomf to turn over the cranks and ended up stalling on the hard left around the tree. I ran it most laps and foot downed a couple. The last lap I totally Sven lined my group of 4, log jammed everyone, attacked and held my gap to the finish. Total pleasure racing King Kog fast guy Tim Willis. Homie crushes SO HARD and is the chillest dude in town.
Possibly my only smile on Saturday. I was totally off all day but Momma Heckler caught a light moment.
Savage AF start as promised.
.
..
...
..
.
LOOK AT THE MOTHER 'KIN SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!
SAYYY WHATT?!?! Yeah, Alex C works at Converse as a designer. I may have mentioned these a while back but they are finally done and delivered (to Boston). I may see them as early as Saturday though!!! I hate to confess joy associated to 'things' but details like this really make training in the dark feel like less of a drag. My stoke CTL (STL from here forward) received a huge bump today.
WEEKEND PREVIEW~SUPERCROSS CUP~
Yeah, so much of this basically both days.
...
...
Looks like the chance of rain has shifted to overnight Saturday! Sunday will be a chilly one!
What else, what else..
I've been driving my bike to work, changing and riding from there then driving home after. Saves me 25 minutes which means I'm only in total darkness for about maybe 30-40 minutes (for now). I try and hit some bike paths at the end to keep off the roads a little. The system is good for about a 2 hour ride.
I forgot my light mount Tuesday and turned it into a rest day. Workout went well yesterday and legs feel alright today. Feeling positive about this weekend.
NECK GAITERS
lit.
Eyyo! Got some CSI media which is late, but whatcha gonna do. Been a busy week.
Coming into the double railroad rack crossing - Day 1
The struggle continues - Day 1
I call this one "Just put me out of my misery." Janice happens to be Adam's babymomma. Janice has also taken some really nice photos of me over the years. Thanks for sharing, Janice!
Sunday - Technical tree corner. I still can't get into my 32T ring and just didn't have enough oomf to turn over the cranks and ended up stalling on the hard left around the tree. I ran it most laps and foot downed a couple. The last lap I totally Sven lined my group of 4, log jammed everyone, attacked and held my gap to the finish. Total pleasure racing King Kog fast guy Tim Willis. Homie crushes SO HARD and is the chillest dude in town.
Possibly my only smile on Saturday. I was totally off all day but Momma Heckler caught a light moment.
Savage AF start as promised.
.
..
...
..
.
LOOK AT THE MOTHER 'KIN SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!
SAYYY WHATT?!?! Yeah, Alex C works at Converse as a designer. I may have mentioned these a while back but they are finally done and delivered (to Boston). I may see them as early as Saturday though!!! I hate to confess joy associated to 'things' but details like this really make training in the dark feel like less of a drag. My stoke CTL (STL from here forward) received a huge bump today.
WEEKEND PREVIEW~SUPERCROSS CUP~
Yeah, so much of this basically both days.
...
...
Looks like the chance of rain has shifted to overnight Saturday! Sunday will be a chilly one!
What else, what else..
I've been driving my bike to work, changing and riding from there then driving home after. Saves me 25 minutes which means I'm only in total darkness for about maybe 30-40 minutes (for now). I try and hit some bike paths at the end to keep off the roads a little. The system is good for about a 2 hour ride.
I forgot my light mount Tuesday and turned it into a rest day. Workout went well yesterday and legs feel alright today. Feeling positive about this weekend.
NECK GAITERS
lit.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Snowpercross, 2016.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Supercross 2016.
This weekend did not go how I dreamt it. Form is fleeting but circumstances outside of the tapes made this particular weekend especially difficult. Saturday was an intensely challenging course. My elevation graph scouting didn't exactly adequately represent the delta Y. I was excited when I learned of the elevation, however was instantly zapped when I showed up and every climb was on soft watt sucking earth.
The race went fine enough. My 4th row start didn't materialize into much. I started on the right side. The start chute was actually contained by curb and eventually fed into the orange metal fencing I've become so accustomed to. I was having difficulty reading where the fence started through the field and missed a really good opportunity to move up when I wimped out thinking I might ride into fence. The race hurt worse then I remember it normally hurting. Power was significantly better than last week. I finished 31/53.
Sunday.
Sunday was a worse day for me leading in. I sat in my room listening to the freezing rain fall on the leaves. I should really take the AC unit out of my window. Between Clio and I we only had 1 set of mud tires for the weekend. I remembered my disk wheel set and vaguely remembered that the front was still okay. Thankfully it held air when I pumped it. I pulled the rotor off, not unlike I was about to put it in the Peugeot, gave it a quick true, swapped my carbon pads out and had myself a usable mud tire. Clio and I planned to do a wheel swap before my race, it would only be the rear and the rims/cassette combo was identical. Rather unfortunately I watched Britt Lee cross the line midpack with a clock time of 55 minutes and change as I heard "last call elite men to staging."
Moments before my name was called Clio rolled in on her pit bike, mud tires were at the top of the hill, I'd have to grab her bike mid-race.
The sprint was forgettable from my 6th row start but once we hit the first off camber I read some wheels well and made 2 really nice moves which moved me up, got me to my preferred line at the top and set me up for the first uphill corner. My XM rear didn't have enough traction and I ran once I spun out.
So much running for the next few minutes.
As I take stock of the riders around me I see the whole Hudson squad, Jules G (who won his first UCI point Saturday) and a few other heavy hitters. Damn, I'm in a good spot.
The whole time on my bike I'm nailing lines. I feel like I'm finding the fastest smoothest spots and gliding through things effortlessly. I'm nailing ruts, shredding corners and having a fucking blast. The run ups hurt especially bad and I choose running lines with gradual grades which I notice helps me close ground. Even worse are the muddy flats.
Everywhere the course levels out on peanut butter mud I struggle. The XM tire spins ferociously as I pedal as I move nowhere. I distract the physical pain with mental processing as I think about smooth pedal strokes. On the flats this helps, but the slight uphills are still impossible.
I pass the pit and Clio has here bike hosed off, ~next half lap~
I come through the pit looking for Clio or the bike. I didn't expect here to stick around but I couldn't find the bike. I'm passed by a group of 3 or 4 who were chasing me.
Next half lap I spotted the bike, then the following half lap I pitted. As I ran and mounted my first pedal stroke sucked the chain in a way rivaling the inversion and suck coming down Black Mounting while pre-riding for Pisgah. It's dropped, sucked and fully wrapped.
Two people rush to my help and grab my bike. I squat to the ground and my right hamstring goes into full charlie horse. I shoot the boot, RIP my chain free, find a ring, run, mount and get back into it. The whole ordeal seemed to last an eternity. Evan Murphy and @keithgarrison pass and gap in the process.
Wow. I can feel the rear tread accelerating me forward. Triple the traction! Still hard, but I'm moving forward noticeably faster. The run ups are getting harder. I catch some tape on my rear stay before the big run up and carry it for a good 30-40 yards. I unclip and kick it off, then keep going. Evan and Keith nail that section and open up some extra gap.
I come through and see 4 to go. I get ready to rip the woods as I'm whistled off course.
Wait, what? How? I.. Fuck.
Minutes later Curtis White comes through. Immediate feelings have me feeling like I was screwed out of at least 1 lap but looking back at the lap times its pretty probable he would have passed my that lap. He was tuning times 2-3 minutes faster per lap.
How???
Beast mode.
I feel mostly cheated because I was really enjoying the course and focusing on slop CX. You don't get to race that shit every day, let alone even ride it.
Saturday night Clio and I joined the JAM crew for diner at Pupusa Magica. Seriously, this place was off the charts. Just look at the storefront.
Sunday I only rode 1 lap before the race. This is what 13 casual minutes on the course "inspecting" looks like. Dat major tom coming through!
An older gentleman approached me while pinning my shoulder numbers. I was in a total daze and I didn't actually get a good look at him. I don't think I knew who he was and I'm certain I couldn't pick him out of a line up, but he delivered me this paper. I shake every time I read it.
This weekend did not go how I dreamt it. Form is fleeting but circumstances outside of the tapes made this particular weekend especially difficult. Saturday was an intensely challenging course. My elevation graph scouting didn't exactly adequately represent the delta Y. I was excited when I learned of the elevation, however was instantly zapped when I showed up and every climb was on soft watt sucking earth.
The race went fine enough. My 4th row start didn't materialize into much. I started on the right side. The start chute was actually contained by curb and eventually fed into the orange metal fencing I've become so accustomed to. I was having difficulty reading where the fence started through the field and missed a really good opportunity to move up when I wimped out thinking I might ride into fence. The race hurt worse then I remember it normally hurting. Power was significantly better than last week. I finished 31/53.
Sunday.
Sunday was a worse day for me leading in. I sat in my room listening to the freezing rain fall on the leaves. I should really take the AC unit out of my window. Between Clio and I we only had 1 set of mud tires for the weekend. I remembered my disk wheel set and vaguely remembered that the front was still okay. Thankfully it held air when I pumped it. I pulled the rotor off, not unlike I was about to put it in the Peugeot, gave it a quick true, swapped my carbon pads out and had myself a usable mud tire. Clio and I planned to do a wheel swap before my race, it would only be the rear and the rims/cassette combo was identical. Rather unfortunately I watched Britt Lee cross the line midpack with a clock time of 55 minutes and change as I heard "last call elite men to staging."
Moments before my name was called Clio rolled in on her pit bike, mud tires were at the top of the hill, I'd have to grab her bike mid-race.
The sprint was forgettable from my 6th row start but once we hit the first off camber I read some wheels well and made 2 really nice moves which moved me up, got me to my preferred line at the top and set me up for the first uphill corner. My XM rear didn't have enough traction and I ran once I spun out.
So much running for the next few minutes.
As I take stock of the riders around me I see the whole Hudson squad, Jules G (who won his first UCI point Saturday) and a few other heavy hitters. Damn, I'm in a good spot.
The whole time on my bike I'm nailing lines. I feel like I'm finding the fastest smoothest spots and gliding through things effortlessly. I'm nailing ruts, shredding corners and having a fucking blast. The run ups hurt especially bad and I choose running lines with gradual grades which I notice helps me close ground. Even worse are the muddy flats.
Everywhere the course levels out on peanut butter mud I struggle. The XM tire spins ferociously as I pedal as I move nowhere. I distract the physical pain with mental processing as I think about smooth pedal strokes. On the flats this helps, but the slight uphills are still impossible.
I pass the pit and Clio has here bike hosed off, ~next half lap~
I come through the pit looking for Clio or the bike. I didn't expect here to stick around but I couldn't find the bike. I'm passed by a group of 3 or 4 who were chasing me.
Next half lap I spotted the bike, then the following half lap I pitted. As I ran and mounted my first pedal stroke sucked the chain in a way rivaling the inversion and suck coming down Black Mounting while pre-riding for Pisgah. It's dropped, sucked and fully wrapped.
Two people rush to my help and grab my bike. I squat to the ground and my right hamstring goes into full charlie horse. I shoot the boot, RIP my chain free, find a ring, run, mount and get back into it. The whole ordeal seemed to last an eternity. Evan Murphy and @keithgarrison pass and gap in the process.
Wow. I can feel the rear tread accelerating me forward. Triple the traction! Still hard, but I'm moving forward noticeably faster. The run ups are getting harder. I catch some tape on my rear stay before the big run up and carry it for a good 30-40 yards. I unclip and kick it off, then keep going. Evan and Keith nail that section and open up some extra gap.
I come through and see 4 to go. I get ready to rip the woods as I'm whistled off course.
Wait, what? How? I.. Fuck.
Minutes later Curtis White comes through. Immediate feelings have me feeling like I was screwed out of at least 1 lap but looking back at the lap times its pretty probable he would have passed my that lap. He was tuning times 2-3 minutes faster per lap.
How???
Beast mode.
I feel mostly cheated because I was really enjoying the course and focusing on slop CX. You don't get to race that shit every day, let alone even ride it.
Saturday night Clio and I joined the JAM crew for diner at Pupusa Magica. Seriously, this place was off the charts. Just look at the storefront.
Sunday I only rode 1 lap before the race. This is what 13 casual minutes on the course "inspecting" looks like. Dat major tom coming through!
An older gentleman approached me while pinning my shoulder numbers. I was in a total daze and I didn't actually get a good look at him. I don't think I knew who he was and I'm certain I couldn't pick him out of a line up, but he delivered me this paper. I shake every time I read it.
For some reason that Quote just struck me as absolutely awesome this morning. It doesn't hurt that it was apparently delivered by an apparition.
Sounds like you had a very mixed weekend - but kudos to still being out there fighting the good fight.
But which one are you?
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Great question.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Just listened to Pocast V9.0 - chiming in on pit bike conversation/supercross fall out.
I did a bad bike racer and despite the access to water sources I threw my A-bike on the roof rack, drove home and left it in my basement until black Friday. I did at least de-dirt and oil my chain Sunday night.
Woof. Words of advice - DON'T NEGLECT YOUR BIKE LIKE THAT, IT WILL GET REALLY MAD AT YOU. I killed my BB so I dropped in to Marty's on Small Business Saturday. Now I have a ceramic hybrid BB to ruin! Took way too much time to get that thing sparkly again.
As for pit bikes - I haven't actually come around to fully taking advantage of my pit bike situation. It's been there in the event of a mechanical but being as I don't have two sets of mud tires it's almost pointless for me to pit on a day like supercross. I also only have a proper pit person maybe 50% of the time. If I dealt with my shitty tires and didn't pit I would have stayed loose and slow, but I would have been loose and slow 5-9 spots further up in the end.
SHREDDY?!
Damn, I got pretty shreddy on the MTB yesterday. I don't think I've even looked at it since July. Picked up a new 2.3" XR3 front tire, re-stansed the rear and finally changed that dinged spoke and trued the rear. Baby is back, baby! I felt surprisingly quick and capable on it so long as the elevation was flat or aimed down. I had a pretty fat training block this weekend and was pretty damn smoked by the end. Current feels are "praise the baby jesus for this rest day."
I did a bad bike racer and despite the access to water sources I threw my A-bike on the roof rack, drove home and left it in my basement until black Friday. I did at least de-dirt and oil my chain Sunday night.
Woof. Words of advice - DON'T NEGLECT YOUR BIKE LIKE THAT, IT WILL GET REALLY MAD AT YOU. I killed my BB so I dropped in to Marty's on Small Business Saturday. Now I have a ceramic hybrid BB to ruin! Took way too much time to get that thing sparkly again.
As for pit bikes - I haven't actually come around to fully taking advantage of my pit bike situation. It's been there in the event of a mechanical but being as I don't have two sets of mud tires it's almost pointless for me to pit on a day like supercross. I also only have a proper pit person maybe 50% of the time. If I dealt with my shitty tires and didn't pit I would have stayed loose and slow, but I would have been loose and slow 5-9 spots further up in the end.
SHREDDY?!
Damn, I got pretty shreddy on the MTB yesterday. I don't think I've even looked at it since July. Picked up a new 2.3" XR3 front tire, re-stansed the rear and finally changed that dinged spoke and trued the rear. Baby is back, baby! I felt surprisingly quick and capable on it so long as the elevation was flat or aimed down. I had a pretty fat training block this weekend and was pretty damn smoked by the end. Current feels are "praise the baby jesus for this rest day."
@Harry Hamilton and I probably should have checked/replaced disc brake pads BEFORE Sunday's mudfest, then would only need new pads (again) instead of pads and rotors...
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
it always feels funny jumping on the mtb after a long time on the road/cx bike, almost need to take 15 minutes or so to relearn how to turn the thing.
i think i will have the same issue, but reverse, when i attempt to race this weekend without riding my cross bike for the past month
i think i will have the same issue, but reverse, when i attempt to race this weekend without riding my cross bike for the past month
Did not cleaning your bike kill your bb, or did racing in those conditions kill your bb? What would cleaning the mud off help?
I ask because I did the same thing. I waited several days before cleaning my bike and when I rode it on Saturday morning, it was fine.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Ideally I would have pulled the cranks, and popped the bearing seals when I got home and flushed with water & compressed air then regreased.
I'd say it's a combination of conditions, gross negligence and tough luck. Sometimes it's all fine, other times shit gets eff'd.
Bikes, man.
Yeah, and sometimes the CK PF30 makes a grading noise, comes to a stop and when you pull it apart, the other thing that comes out is metal dust and shavings.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
HEYYYYYY NBX!!!
Driving north to play in the sand for two days! Fuck, forgot to pack the beach chair.
...
...
of 49 on Saturday.
While my CX points have slowly gone up, so has my CTL. Really hoping to make something half decent of this weekend but I have a wicked rooty course and a sand runway to deal with, though, so does everyone. I never seem to do that well after a weekend off from racing but maybe the stars will align. In non-bike land my head seems to be on mostly straight so here's to one last UCI weekend.
Looking forward I have 2 more weekends of racing ahead of me. I'll be only doing Saturday races and getting in some training on Sunday. I may be doing one or both on the SS. We'll see though!
I really dig this shot shared by Team Health Warrior from the 2015 edition of NBX.
Driving north to play in the sand for two days! Fuck, forgot to pack the beach chair.
...
...
of 49 on Saturday.
While my CX points have slowly gone up, so has my CTL. Really hoping to make something half decent of this weekend but I have a wicked rooty course and a sand runway to deal with, though, so does everyone. I never seem to do that well after a weekend off from racing but maybe the stars will align. In non-bike land my head seems to be on mostly straight so here's to one last UCI weekend.
Looking forward I have 2 more weekends of racing ahead of me. I'll be only doing Saturday races and getting in some training on Sunday. I may be doing one or both on the SS. We'll see though!
I really dig this shot shared by Team Health Warrior from the 2015 edition of NBX.