I'VE GOT SOME THANKIN TO DO....

February 24, 2008 - Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America)

Some years ago, when I started racing Cyclocross with friends of mine from

Eagle County down on the front range, there was always one thing that made the races better, and more fun, and more exciting. It was a show, it was not just a bike race. The voice, the wit, and the character of Dave Towle always made the race day a great experience, and on the long slog back to the mountains Dave's commentary always snuck into the conversation and we would laugh. The guy just had a rare talent.

Well, a few years go by, and I end up promoting and announcing some small hometown races and find I like the mic. This probably spewed from 11 years of playing music professionally back in the 80's and 90's in Summit County, as well as a year long stint as a radio DJ for an AM Country Music station that hailed from Dillon back in the 90's. These small town "gigs" announcing and promoting lead to an opportunity to announce the cycling events at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado, which this year drew some 40,000 fans for the weekend. This got me some more and much needed exposure, and from there the ball has been rolling, in a very positive direction for the most part. I've been blessed to announce many mountain and road bike races in Colorado as well as my favorite, Cyclocross all over the front range of Colorado for the past two seasons, it's been an amazing experience getting to witness and call so many amazing athletes in amazing races.

I've also made some mistakes along the way, way before I ever thought I would be pursuing a professional announcing career I stepped on toes of some promoters, right here on this blog. Damn, I truly had no understanding of just how many people were reading my rants and raves out there in cyberworld until the day I called out Brook Watts and Chris Grealish for charging people to get into Cross Vegas on the pages of A2B. It was never meant as a personal attack, but it came across that way, it was simply a difference of opinion which caused quite a bit of strife out there. One thing I have learned over the past couple of years since those days, is that good bike racing is entertainment, and worthy of some type of "charge" to view, I'm not sure what that price is, but it is definitely worth the price of admission if you understand just how good all these athletes are, and I love calling the action. I understand those who were pissed about my stance on that issue, there were also many who agreed and supported what I thought. Bottom line is, it would be nice if that all flows under the bridge some time and I actually get to work with those guys in the future.

But the main point of this ramblishing, is to thank one person alot. Dave Towle, who'm I have a tremendous amount of respect for as he is simply the best at what he does and has been a tremendous help to me this race season. From our conversations face to face, and Dave reaching out to me to give me some great advice for a path to the future, it has been an incredible confidence boost to have his support. I mean are you kidding me? That's like some street fighting rookie having Angelo Dundee in his corner as he starts his path towards his dream of a heavy weight crown. His public support of me as a race announcer means a ton, and the support I get from so many racers and fans is telling me I may have a shot at this if I stick with it. And I do not plan on going anywhere, 2011 is already shaping up to be a great season on the mic. So THANK YOU Dave Towle for the support.......next Ten Fidy is on me, and of course, thank you to the racers and fans, you are the ones that give us the call.

photo sammy rutherford

11, 12 , 13.....JAKE WELLS ALL JINGLE CROSSED UP.

Jake Wells goes from fourth to north on day two of Jingle Cross. The start had him fourth wheel, then he got taken out by a knap sack and could not recover...Now it's back to Colorado for the State Championships, and then National's in Bend, Oregon. I'll be missin all of it this year.

photo  Amy Dykema

SOMETHING NEW AND SICK FROM RUDY PROJECT/KLONYX SNOW GOGGLES

This appears to be something I could use everyday....so I will.

Or perhaps either of these, click these pics for the specs.

CHUCK COYLE....

VeloNews Story HERE

This is a fuzzy photo off Chuck Coyle from Frisco Cross 2010. Chuck is in the middle of a HUGE pile of shit right now regarding an "issue" with EPO which at best seems a bit unclear. I know many of you believe that I do not have an ounce of knowledge in my head when it comes to the news in our regional cycling community, however I do know alot of people who ride and race and spend quite a bit of time in the scene. This group of friends includes people who know, race against and with Chuck Coyle. I can't say I know Chuck as a friend but I've always tried to be cordial with the guy as I see him often while either racing, cheering or announcing at our local scene, he's always been a crowd favorite.  A2B "sources" have explained what they know about this situation and I'm actually going to for once try to have some journalistic responsibility as I have learned over the 3.5 years of producing all the garbage and fun on this blog site, that ALOT of people read this. What I have heard regarding this story is what some people out there have heard and may know, it does not necessarily mean it is true and I am not standing behind one person or another, nor do I support or condone USADA or WADA. I do know doping needs to stop. I also know it probably would have been fair to Chuck Coyle if some of the details of the entire story came out rather that it just being a story of Coyle being tied to EPO. He is not even accused of using the drug, but rather being associated with it. Bottom line is this sucks for cycling locally and worldwide, and Hudz-Subaru should not be scorned or associated with the story....more later.
(Update, Coyles response HERE)

A2B WISHES YOU ALL A HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVEN THE TSA

I've got to work my arse off over the next week for the holiday so I offer you this as I toss my bird in the oven this eve.

I'm a bachelor that cooks, pretty well I might ad, but I don't touch this nasty thing. I'm not sure what my grandmother, god rest her soul,  used to do with these things but she could make something that was a delectable delight from this gobbler neck, which I always found odd. But touche.

(I've got a sneaking suspicion that Bristol Palin might eat this thing in one bite, raw, to help keep that svelt figure of hers).

I thought it might be useful by strapping it to the inside of my thigh under my pants on my next trip to the airport and then video taping the pat down from the TSA...

With that said, I'm not so sure what the hoopla is all about with this new airport system. I mean truly folks, if you bitch about the pat down, and some guy or gal blows up your plane because they had an explosive sausage stuffed in their crotch or up their ass, please do not text me on the way to the ground looking for sympathy because we need to do whatever we can to catch these bastards who will go to no end to try and jack us up. To the contrary, I sympathise a bit with the TSA employees that have to touch every fat, stinky, nasty person that comes through their gate, can you imagine the conversations these people must be having at the bar later that eve? I mean, they must offer each other money to squeeze some of the foul meat that comes through the airport on a daily basis...anyway, Happy Thanksgiving.

VAIL PARKING IS AN EMBARRASSMENT, AND IT SUCKS

Well, it did not take long for me to realize why Vail does pretty much suck as a ski area. Once again as I pulled in to the parking structure to start off my ski season at Vail I was quickly reminded of the $25 it is going to cost every single car that parks there this winter. It's a joke, and a rip-off, and I know where all the "free" spots are, christ, I've been skiing there for the better part of 30 years, but it's pretty much just a slap in the face for every skier that heads there to ski, and it takes ALOT of money away from the local merchants as you have to spend your lunch and beer money everyday there to park a 1/4 mile from the ski hill and then walk your ass off to get to the ski lifts. The choice is yours, pay $100 a day to ski, then $25 to park, walk like a hod to the ski lifts, spend $20 on a slice of pizza, $5 on a coke, $7 on a candy bar, $8 on a beer, all while on the hill, then what are you going to spend with the local merchants when you get off the hill? Your first born. Thank god Beaver Creek opens on Wednesday, I'll park for free and go have lunch at Gino's in Avon for $8, which gets me a killer Chicago style beef sangmich, chips and a bottle of Coca Cola. Terry needs the money alot more than those greedy bastards up the road, trust me, Gino's rox it.

I HAVE NOTHING TO BLOG....

And Sunday was a day of rest, before powder skiing on Monday.

So I made my list for Santa, it has one item.

Now I'm going to go rob a bank.

ALREADY VIRAL....

But you must check out both of these videos. They are all over the internet, now they are one more place, on A2B. This is just amazing, let's let them do the splainin.

And not to disrespect the talent above, but if you are really bored, here is vij from Dale Riley of our race last Sunday at the USGP of CX in Fort Collins, The New Belgium Cup

New Belgium Cup USGP Cyclocross - Day2 - 45+ Barcam from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

NOVEMBER, REALLY.

When the Ullr made his appearance early last week, it was time to make the drive over Vail Pass to The Legend, Arapahoe Basin for the goods, and the goods were there after three days of heavy snow in the high country...deep in the base area.

Exibition was for just that

The West Wall was wasted after two runs Chinese Downhill style, but deep.

The Beavers are already nearly perf....Avie gear is a must out here.

King Cornice is already king

This actually IS November, not March...

THE ROCK SHOW HITS FORT COLLINS, FIGURE EM OUT FOR YOURSELF

And bonus vij from Elgee

SOME NEW BELGIUM CUP, USGP CX FORT COLLINS

It all started with a pile of bike crap in the back of Burnsy's car, in Eagle

And took us to the perfect mud of Fort Collins in a cow field transformed into incredible CX racing conditions, ask the Freak, who ripped his second drive train to pieces in three weeks...

Colorado State Champion Pete Webber put on a freekin mud clinic both days in the 35+ cat field.

Gould and Nash chased down Compton on day one and Nash powered to a sprint win over the six time National Champion

Nicole Duke in a pile up on day one, parts of the off camber corners were virtually unridable for even the best bike handlers..

The majority of the racers on day one hit the deck at least once

Tim Faia get's greeezed into the tape early on day two and loses valuable position early, he stayed tangled for what must have seemed like an eternity

Moots rider John Cariveau had a great comeback weekend

Ned Overend was in the house both days lining it up deep at the back of the 35+ Field and blowing through most of it to the front Saturday and Sunday.

Goergia Gould applies early pressure to Katie Compton on Sunday, Compton had none of it and took back what was rightfully hers with a Sunday win over Nash

Nicole Duke railed the corners with her crazy mad technical handling skills

Hometown favorite Meredith Miller got tied up with Amy Dombroski in a war on day two and attacked later for a top five finish.

The open men's field charges the barriers on lap one.

USGP OF CYCLOCROSS, ABSOLUTE PERFECT CX CONDITIONS

Michael Robson of Moots who has been a machine this year, in a most improbable crash. I think EVERYONE had two or three of these this weekend. Look for more tomorrow, big time.

And this sucks, fan favorite Todd Wells who was chasing Tim Johnson with Jeremy Powers, crashes at the barriers and is out, getting injured in the process...

HOCKEY NIGHT IN DENVER WITH FEEDBACK SPORTS....LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT

And the fastest women in the world on two wheels...Georgia Gould, Katie Compton, and Lisa Hudson.

The Feedback Sports sweet Suite

Always the biggest poser in the place....

And of course, THE reason the Avalanche lost on this eve, I got cut after period number 2

The Bernard actually stole a bottle of Squirt Lube from the suite...

IT'S HERE, IT'S SNOWING, IT'S GOING TO BE GRAND...

It's here again, the big show. Just two weekends prior the NACT came to Boulder to showcase the finest CXers in the country. This weekend it's the USGP of Cyclocross rolling into Fort Collins, and now it's snowing, and it's gonna be a goodin. Cross fans are in a virtaul candy store this weekend and the buzz is a buzzin. With Fries and Towle manning the mics, it's gonna be something special.

And then of course there was last week and weekend, where the Freak rode to a podge at Schoolyard Cross. Below, the infamous sand of the Boulder Rez.

Cospolich and Faia set a blistering early pace and dropped all but McFarling

Faia escaped late in the 35+ field for the victory, Tim can go very deep late if he is "on".

Amy Dombroski was, well, Amy Dombrowski...

Distrubing news of the day was Summerhill going down hard during warm-ups and misfiring on a bunnyhop, seperating his shoulder.

Of course the week was not without more sickness. Feedback Sports, distributor of Squirt Lube, hosted a mega shindig with a private box at the Avs-Flames game, hosting Bruce and Joan, who own the USGP of CX, Katie Compton, Georgia Gould and a host of other industry heavies, too bad the Avies took one on the chin 4-2.

Oh, and there was the 80's party, I'm sure some "dancing vij" will appear on Facebook beyond my control.

Brady Kappius swept the men's open races last weekend and heavily assisted in a SS win for his dad Russ, at 51 years of age in a very tactical race with the Gates Carbon team chasing.

Kevin Kane continues to learn the game of CX very well.

Dry anf loose track at the Boulder Res...the charge is on.

First lap of the 4's sorting out.

Another sand pit victim at the Rez, Sam Gordon, Cult Cross cover boy

Towle discusses with Summerhill the crash and injury...

And now we gear up for Fort Collins, on the road tomorrow.