Next Season

There's always next season.

This next season I'm thinking about racing long again. 2009 I gave the NUE 100 miler series a go. It turns out training for 100 mile mountain bike races while earning a master's degree in food science is a difficult task. The 2009 season didn't go as well as I had hoped (seasons never do) and I finished 10th overall in the series after completing the minimum 4 required races.

Next season I'm shooting for a top 5. I just need to figure out a way to train full time.

Turkey Days

I took a trip to SC, and snapped a few images while I was there.

This picture show was recorded on Kentmere iso 400 film pushed to 1600 in artista liquid developer for 16minutes at stock dilution:








The lil' one was trouble:







This set was taken with AristaEdu iso 400 pushed to 1600 in arista developer for 18 minutes diluted 1:1. It turns out this was not enough development.

Links

I sprained my thumb on lap one at the NCSU cx race and proceeded to race for the win (FTW). The following week I ignored the swelling to the best of my ability and proceeded to race the bumpiest course yet at WVU - and win. After another week of thumb not healing I decided to race at VT on the bumpiest course of all time thinking, F this F that, FTW, and did not win. A week later I saw a doctor who told me to see another doctor who told me to have a splint made. Now I have a really cool custom splint and 6 weeks to enjoy the off season.

Other projects in the works:

webmastering: acccycling.org, omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com, and aaronoakes.jessicagreenberg.com

Photo gallery coming soon to omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com

Writing a business plan and marketing materials for my very own small business. I plan to be in the business of managing and racing for a small professional and grassroots mountain bike/cyclocross team. Also hoping to kick the coaching up a notch, know any potential clients? Send them my way and if they sign up I'll give you a reward. Official reward posters are coming soon. wenzelcoaching.com

Also currently working on finishing the ol' thesis and pulling out the best of the best for publication at the professional level in the 'scholarly literature'.

Up and Running

It's official, both the start of 'cross season and the launch of new webspace http://omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com/

Last weekend was the Richmond festival of cyclocross. I raced collegiate men's A Saturday and again Sunday. I won both. I'm pretty sure I placed 7th and 4th in the pro 1/2 field, but was only scored/registered for the collegiate race. It's nice to know I would have been in the money though.

http://omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com/

Giana and I took some pictures at the race. The colorful digi pix are hers and later this week we'll have scans of real photos made with film. Enjoy.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/10/news/north-carolina-state-dominates-atlantic-conference-collegiate-cyclocross-opener_146022

Test Prints

Chemicals are cool. Making prints on real paper is cooler. The best part is that it only takes 30 seconds to scan prints from a whole roll of film from a contact print, but to scan the negatives themselves takes an hour.

I made my own negative carrier and cut the hole slightly larger than usual so the border and sprocket holes show through.

Most of the images on these rolls were tests like the series of folders each a different color. I took that one a few times with a few different filters, same with the ball. The blank ones are plain objects and different lenses and f stops. Eventually I hope to learn something from these rolls.

Proof

It's been a while since I've worked in a darkroom. I started using the one on campus and now get to make 8x10 prints of my negatives. These prove I took pictures. The really cool part is that unlike with digital you can see how I composed the images in the camera (no cropping) and also what my success rate was.




I plan to scan and post all the 'cross season pics this way. You can always right click to save the image then rotate and modify using your favorite image editing software.

Projects

A year ago I posted Rally pictures. These were to be the images that remind me of Raleigh. Well, like my graduate studies, I still have some work left to do. I'm restarting project Rally and plan to make a more complete set of reasonably aesthetically pleasing images in and around Raleigh, NC.

Project dos will be Project Operation ACCC 'Cross Season 2010.

Sister bear

The lil'est competed in her first triathlon last weekend and won for her age group. She was one of the slowest swimmers of all time, then rode her bike faster than half of all the competitors, and ran faster than 75% of participants. Nicely done. She averaged just shy of 20mph for 14 miles - without the use of those funny looking aerobars.

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/10/ma/Sep5_Inaugu_set6.shtml

New News

The new best album of all time of the universe forever is called Turis Fratyr by a Band called Equilibrium.

After about a year of cultivating my hairs I finally had to get a trim. See photos below.

Before:







After:





If this doesn't make me faster I don't know what will.

Mega-props (10⁶) to Giana for the thoughtful portraits and her dexterous scissor-wielding hands.

In unrelated news, my poster and I placed 3rd in the Institute of Food Technologists' annual meeting graduate student research poster competition in the food chemistry division. To make the award winning poster I just used the microsoft power point 'auto-content wizard'.

Last one

Since my last post I raced in Alabama, and then raced again the following weekend in Virginia. The first race went poorly. I didn't race very well mentally, which is not a surprise. The second weekend I crashed on the last lap, which was a bummer for a few reasons. I knew immediately it was a bummer because when I regained consciousness I knew without having to look that I had broken another helmet with my head. The other reason was that I also broke my saddle and wasn't going to finish the race. I found out later that I was riding in the top three within a minute of the race leader, that was the last bummer.
Oh, and I had to move because one of my neighbors broke a water pipe while I was in Canada. My floors and walls are all having to be replaced and my condo is in shambles. School + moving + crashing = mtb season is over.

No worries, 'cross season is just around the corner. It looks like I'll be a full time student this Fall so I plan to win the ACCC conference champion title again and head to Bend, OR for another run at the national championships. This year I will not be including a 1.5 week stint with swine flu in my training plan. I have a hunch this will help my performance.


Danville, VA race pix:





Bump 'n Grind Race photos courtesy of http://www.samuelgussphotography.com

Devastational

I drove a lot this past week. First to Massachusetts, then Canada; repeat then back south. Mostly I went to race my mountain bike in Canada. My bike is falling apart and dudes who race for UCI points are fast. I promptly had my pride handed to me in a doggy bag. The courses were fun so even when you're losing you still can have fun pedaling. Mix one part devastation with one part motivational and you can sum up my races with devastational.

I started around 70th and finished around 40th. Bonus points for super fun riding in Western Mass between races and super fun riding partner friend Justin (Wolverine: see blog right) who went crazy fast and furious to start in the 70s and finish in the 20s.

Since I won't be able to get a new bike as quickly as I would I'll probably make mtb season end early and start 'cross training.

Mullet-Hawk

I want to do the right thing. When the time comes I want to be sure that my new hair cut will make me faster. I plan to straddle the fine line between mullet and mohawk, which will be henceforth referred to as the mullet-hawk. I can barely contain my excitement. Just thinking about my new haircut is making my legs more vascular, my quads bigger and my tan lines more defined. This could be the competitive edge I need heading to Canada.

A quick google-style image inquiry into the world of the 'euro-mullet' yielded shocking results: cyclists have been using the mullet-hawk as an ergogenic aid for quite some time.

Exhibit A: http://speedtheorycyclingteam.blogspot.com/2008/04/will-train-make-his-winning-move-in.html




Coincidence? I think not.


Exhibit B: http://djones.myncblogs.com/2008/12/02/is-the-euro-mullet-still-in-style/
very coincidental. The mullet featured here is on my NCSU 'cross teammate Brain Sain's head.





Exhibit C: http://goodtimecyclingblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/well-well-well-tim-johnson.html
It apparently works equally as well for cyclocross.

I fell down

I don't usually crash my bike, but last Sunday I fell down. I wasn't paying attention and rode my front wheel off the side of a wooden bridge. The bridge was covered with roofing shingles for added traction which felt less than wonderful against my skin as I face-planted into it.

Considering the fact that my wheel fell out out on the first lap and I crashed on the second lap, the fact that I still won was enough to take the sting away.

Photos and results:

http://documents.clubexpress.com/documents.ashx?key=usxJ6E6EJ0KdUoAmMJIYisao6xqgbNaZK3uNt3JWy3EZW8To8cVBuejNkgqz89y81odOlIUIuuM%3d
http://www.ecvelo.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=984060&module_id=49780














The Euro-mullet makes me faster.

Naked

While I was riding the other day I spotted a naked red head in someone's front lawn. I thought I had seen a hawk until I realized she was a vulture. Bummer. In related news the fox's head is on the right side of the road, while the rest of his body lies in the median. James Slaughter Barbecue Thanksgiving Fire Sausage Road that is.

On my way out

As I was leaving my house today I thought aloud, "am I forgetting anything?"

To which I answered, "I don't remember."

Please note that I was not talking to myself. I was thinking out loud, with my mouth. Only crazy people talk to themselves, but it's ok to think once in a while. Just be sure to stifle this regularly with copious amounts of television.

What's a Pirate's Favorite Statistical Software Envorinment?

aaRRRRRR.

It's my favorite too. http://www.r-project.org/

It helps me watch my training:

I'll admit it

A dream goal of mine from a few years ago was to start a world cup mountain bike race. I would have required of myself, that I go fast enough not to be embarrassed. Apparently the UCI also felt the same way and introduced a points requirement for riders to be eligible to start a world cup race.

It happens that this year world cup finals are in New York. What a rare treat. The timing may not work well for me in terms of fitness, but I'm going to give it a go. There I said it. For real. Now I will be held accountable if I don't try. I mean really try. I already really tried hard enough that I gave myself tendinitis. I'm going to fix that and then try harder. The hardest ever. I may still fail. This is a pretty big risk and if I do fail I will be devastated.

A friend of mine slapped me and said that I was being a sissy for not trying because I won't likely be in a better place (in my life) to try something like this. She was right. I have a flexible schedule and a boss who values productivity over presence. Take that corporate America. But since I now need 20 UCI points in order to start this race I need a game plan.

It looks like this:

1. May 16, Baie Saint-Paul Quebec UCI XCO1
2. May 22, Tremblont Montreal UCI XCO1
3. May 30, Ontario UCI XCO1
   
4. June 5, Alabama UCI XCO2
5. July 4, Marathon Nats Breckenridge, CO UCI XCM CN
6. July 10, Colorado Springs, CO UCI XCO2
7. July 18, XC Nats Grandy, CO UCIXCO CN
   
8. August 15, Bromont UCI XCO1
9. August 29, World Cup Final Windham, NY HOLY CRAP

The XCO2 races go 10 deep with points, the 1s go 15 deep and the CN go 25 deep.

I'll probably be competing at presenting my research during race number 7, which is fine since the 20 minute presentation contest will actually pay a lot better for a lot less work.

I will be taking advantage of the fact that as a University student I have access to many scientific journals. I'm compiling a pretty nice set of journal articles which contain information to help me get faster. As long as I can avoid being hit by a car this Spring I should be on track.

Art

Spending 15-30 hours each week wearing spandex and drinking juice from a bottle is hardly the mark of a manly man. Luckily I stumbled upon this website: http://artofmanliness.com/ If I can slowly incorporate some suggestions from that website I may be able to counteract all of the cycling I've been doing.

I found it while looking into straight razor shaving again. I barely need to shave as it is, but there seem to be many benefits to doing it with a reusable single blade. Plus it's about as manly as scratching an itch with a gun.