This run-up to this weekend's races trembled on the tip of needle...the dial could've gone either way.

Rain threatened in the parking lot of Prairie Crossing in Grayslake on Saturday, but other than the slight chill in the air, and the unique course, nothing about the race was really any different than any other event this year.

Shaped like a big C, there were only 2 ninety degree turns, with 3 wide, sweeping pedal-thoughs. A recipe for a fast race - tempered by a fast head wind on the back and the home stretches.

It was mostly a sit-in, either at the back or fighting for 3rd wheel. I'd planned on jumping on a hard attack just after a prime-lap, which was announced with 5 to go, but I'd moved so far to the back while conserving it took me another half lap to work my way back to the front - but it was perfect because my I got my need positioning when we were back in the headwind. A rider was off, and I left to try and join him.

Just like at Olympia Fields, the group strung out a bit, I could see riders trying to join me as I passed the rider who was coming back from his flyer before. I kept hammering to increase the gap and help any riders joining me keep their's. But when I looked back, the group was together again and I had a sizable gap.

For whatever reason - maybe the vomit rising in my throat - I thought I had one lap less to go than we did. When I came past the line it read "3" to my dismay. The wind was hard and my will was not. I sat up briefly, but when I looked back, the gap had grown and obviously my two teammates were blocking, and maybe more.

I do briefly remember hearing something about a prime lap but was so focused on just trying to stay off it didn't really register. I looked again after the line with 2 to go and the gap was still there, but I was really dying in the wind now. When I looked again, there they were, coming up on about 1.5 to go. I sat in and tried to recover, planning to try to work my way up after turn one - the bottom sweeping turn of the "C".

But by then everyone else had the same plan, and the front was driving the pace and it was going to have to be done in the wind. But I had no real strength left to get it done there, and no real desire to mix it up on the narrow turns. The jump came and I was maybe 15 or 20 back and that was the race. Not that it took anything away from yet another podium for Newt.

The only consolation came with my $25 gift certificate to Wild Fire. Probably good for a nice martini and some calmari. Jeff Holland won one too. I think we'll have a double date.

Today I felt I would fare much better. Everyone had been raving about the course. The nervousness of the nights-before was gone and I enjoyed a quiet evening alone with Katy. I was up early and out with my pre-packed bag to meet Newt in NorthCenter and we rode up to Glencoe along the usual team route. A truly beautiful morning with a stiff headwind keeping our speed low and conversation high. We ran into Brian, Jeff, and William each coming back from morning training rides.

But it was not to be. The beautiful setting and several teammates in the field did nothing for my psyche. I hammered to get to the front and took the first lap around. There were five of up there for the first three laps, when Newt just rode off the front to find himself with a slight gap. One, then another rider came around Chris and I, and I didn't chase until the surge came on the home stretch. This was about 3 laps into the race, and from then on out it was downhill.

I just fell further and further back, thinking only of making it through turn 2 without crashing. It had a stellar dip and a manhole cover in it, and when it was 2 or more wide, I just lost my nerve. I wasn't gassed at all, I did feel strong. However, I having no fun whatsoever at this point, and about 5 or 6 laps into the race, I just raised my hand, faded to the right, and got the hell out of there.

I can't call myself a burnout. I've only been racing for 2 years, and I can't even be competitive in the 4s. Do I even have an edge yet to lose?

I guess so. What else would you call it? Not three months ago it seemed I was finally coming into some real form and it was only a matter of time. A 5th place in the Tour of West Lafayette, and a Top 10 in Snake Alley had me feeling strong and confident. Spring Prairie cracked me pretty hard, but that was just a realization of my capabilities and preparation.

I guess it started with Proctor. It was so demoralizing to race that well only to be taken out by a last lap, last turn crash. Olympia Fields, and the Bensonville race, up to that final lap, however seemed to be pointing my way to the light. I'd been watching teammates and friends blossom to a level they'd worked for, leaving the usual pack fodder behind to wallow and rationalize. Was it finally happening for me?

I sat, scraped and bleeding on the grass in Bensonville, and then watched my Superweek and my season drift down to a skittish level where I really can't justify going into any corner to battle for my position. I love to ride bikes fast and I did love to race, but now I'd rather come out of my weekend road-rash free, and certainly not with any broken bones...or worse a broken bike. At least insurance pays for the bones.

I walked away from today's race with no qualms, yet of course with a sense of loss and pangs of jealousy tempering my happiness and conviction as teammates podiumed on both days. But at this point I just can't see myself there and therefore had no right to be. And if that's the case, I of course belong nowhere near the 3s, and I am caught in terribly demotivating loop.

So if I was unable to get the blade sharpened in these low-key preludes to Downer's Grove, how can I expect to be competitive there? And worse, who will want to race next to me?

I need better bike handling skills. Period. Or maybe another sport. Bike racing might not be my thing...right now, not crashing is the only thing on my mind in a criterium. I'd love to take another stab at the track, and to gear my next season around it to at least upgrade to Thursday night racing, but I don't have the kind of time or patience to be racing and training two nights a week and racing on the weekends. I want to spend that kind of time with my lady and writing. And cyclocross is the same story. Sort of. This sport is fucking expensive and cross also means twice as many trips to the goddamned shop.

So I obviously have some commitment issues, as well, it seems. And as such, I think next weekend we just need to get out of town, at least for a day, and have some fun. The season, criteriums, anyways, is probably over. The road race state championship could have redeeming facets, and the 4 man Team Time trial is far more about fitness, which is one thing I still seem to have left.

For the lack of posts lately - I've had a bit of writer's block.

A constipation of my brain that was brought on by a lapse in judgment and the belated knowledge that really anybody can read what is written on this site. However, I am unable to make creative outlet private. I love sharing what I write immediately with the world: it's quickest way to the real me. Many times there is no filter between what triggers and fires my fingers over the keyboard and when I hit the post button. Why wait for some publisher to read and review and edit what I give you? Isn't the enjoyment and true fulfillment of the reader found in finding a raw piece of my brain? And now it is the guarded pose I must now take in order to claim my security in life that makes this outlet so much more important.

And will not cinch down the output one iota to satisfy the need of any soulless incorporation to keep things "appropriate."

"Appropriate" will kill you just like an intestinal blockage.

So up next, a bit of Ex-lax for the soul.

I got this wooden VW art suggestion from Kelly Lyles the other day so I had to post this. I got carried away and spent a couple of hours looking for more of these wooden wonders. I am sure there are benefits to owning a wooden art car so here we go, my top seventeen reasons to drive a wooden art car.

1) Babe Magnet

2) Great View


3) It floats


4) It floats and its faster

Livio De Marchi from Venice, Italy created these three and two of them float, I wonder why?

5) Giant Door Wedge

Splinter

6) Smaller Door Wedge

Little Splinter
created artist Isaac Cohen who is a regular at the Houston Art Car Parade.

7) Classy Dinner Table

The car is built from scratch from Friend Wood entitled the Tryane II, took almost 2000 hours to create. It weighs in at about 900 pounds & is capable of 100mph. This is much better than any log ride out there! I love it.It took furniture maker Friend Wood, 46 over 2 000 hours to build his three-wheel, tear-drop shaped car. Named 'Tryane II', it was built around a basic mould using a boat-building technique known as 'cold moulding'. Mr Wood (yes, that's his name) then built up layers of African mahogany. The two-seater is an adaption of the classic four-wheeled 1969 Citroen Diane and uses the chassis and 602cc engine from a Citroen 2CV. It weights 900 lbs, is 13 feet 7 inches long, 5 feet four inches wide, and four feet four inches tall. With a top speed of approximately l00 mph, it has a fuel consumption of up to 70 mpg.


8) Zamboni on wheels

This wood car was created as a promotional vehicle made by a furniture company in Japan with a max speed of 80km/h.

9) Better Snow Traction

This Opel car which has been stripped of all the metal on the chassis and been replaced with wooden planks.

10) Stealth WWI Machine


11) Urban Safari Trips


12) Get Away Car


13) Better parallel parking?


14) Makes the rims look really nice


15) Wild Life Preserve


16) Pick up time machine?


17) If life gives you wood, make an underpowered wooden death trap

Did anybody else think that fucking torch lighter was a dead man?

Windshield Repair - What Are the Benefits?
By Samantha Mccartney

Even though we all try our best to avoid it, it somehow seems to happen more than we would like. Somehow finding ourselves driving down the highway behind a semi truck or dump truck and no way around it. We realize the bad place we are positioned as we hear the little rocks hitting our car and windshield, and then we begin making a plan to move. However sometimes those little rocks can do a lot of damage before we can move, leaving our windshields cracked or chipped. Now what do you do?

Well, your choices are to replace the whole windshield, repair the crack or chip, or do nothing.

Replacing your whole windshield is an option. However it will likely cost you quite a bit of money. Unless you have tons of extra money lying around this would not be a solution for you. Even if you do there are other things to consider. Replacing the entire windshield will take more time as well. So unless you really have to replace the whole windshield you should try to get it repaired.

The best option is to get your windshield repaired. This is a process that involves technology and skill to fill a damaged area on the windshield with a special transparent resin. It is advised that you find a qualified professional to handle your windshield repairs. This process usually only takes about 30 minutes to have done, which is great for the world filled with busy schedules. Also with the process the strength of your windshield is fully restored and it is about impossible to know that any work has even been done on the windshield. In most cases your insurance will help with the payment since it is saving them money from having to replace your whole windshield. Another added benefit of repairing your windshield is that it is keeping a large amount of glass out of our landfills. Bet you didn't know that 10% of our landfills is made up of glass! Windshields are not usually recycled due to laminate on them. As you can see there are many benefits personally and globally to getting your windshield repaired instead of replaced. One thing to remember is that your windshield should be repaired as quickly as possible for optimum results.

Doing nothing is not a good choice at all. It is unsafe to drive with your windshield in that condition. It can be deadly if it bursts on its own or if you are sadly involved in a car accident. Also waiting too long to repair it could result in more costs and frustrations for you. This is because the longer you wait to repair a crack or chip, the longer that chip or crack has time to accumulate debris in it. This makes it harder and sometimes impossible to repair.

So, don't wait if you windshield is in need of repair. Take it to a trustworthy shop that can repair your crack or chip quickly and safely! It will save you time and money, two very valuable things!

Don't waste any time with your windshield repairs

This 2006 Prius called "For the Birds" is now owned by the Shalom Compost of Santa Cruz and is for sale. It was painted by Artist Kelly Lyles for Marilyn Dreampeace who recently past away. These beauties are hard to get now days with gas prices being what they are and the art work on it is simply amazing. It has 53k miles with California HOV stickers and is going for $25,000, if you are interested please contact Compost@aol.com



Kelly Lyes working on the car

This morning's Bike Blog at biketraffic.org had me choking on my oatmeal.

We are at a watershed event in modern history. Since our society began using cars as the primary mode of transportation there has never been as big a drop drop in driving as we are currently experiencing now. If the nadir in driving miles during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970's was a plateau, this current drop is more like a cliff. As in billions of miles less.

Higher gas prices are changing Americans driving habits. Finally our selfish behavior is hitting us in the pocketbook, and we are reacting. However, as gas purchases are down, so are the highway taxes that come along with them.

And what is the Department of Transportation's response to this drop in funding?

By diverting money from mass transit.

That's right. Finally, everyday Americans are beginning to see mass transit as the answer to getting us beyond oil. At least partly. I notice myself that my twice a week metra commute to work is now twice as crowded as it was even in April. And the Bush administration, which was practically appointed by the petroleum industry, will take the hard-won money we fight for almost daily, it seems, and use it to prop up a way of life that even the most dunderheaded, stubborn right-wingers can see is eventually on the way out.

I am not some pie-in-the-sky, wet-behind-the-ears, pantywaist that Hannity and Limbaugh seem to think exist everywhere beyond their diatribes. I know we need highways. The interstate system was originally conceived as an escape-route for our metro areas and of course, interstate commerce depends on them.

Yet in both cases, this tool is rendered useless by traffic congestion; the system is clogged by Americans who seem to think they have the right to a daily commute to work or play in air-conditioned comfort on leather seats that burns away 400 years of sunshine every mile.

Taking money from Mass Transit to keep the highways operable for emergencies and commerce is nothing less than shooting ourselves in the foot. We need mass transit to keep people off the highways. With substandard mass transit options, the system will not be able to keep up with demand, and growth will be stunted. We'll simply spiral downward faster and faster until it all just breaks down into a pile of rubble, potholes, broken down trains crowded with sweaty misery, gridlocked highways, and a population on the verge of revolt.

Hardly a vision for the future, but right in line with the vision of the Bush Administration.

Please write the Department of Transportation and let them know what you think of their plan to divert money from Mass Transit to fund highways. And start to demand that our elected officials distance themselves from the petroleum industry.