Mtnracer

So, to those of you who don’t know, my wife and I are expecting a baby girl to join our family this mid-October.

We are very excited with this news, and we’ve been doing everything to stay healthy, nutritious, and active for our baby. We want her to be brought up in an environment with the pinnacle of love and good-health, and I think we’re both doing an excellent job so far of creating that environment. (more…)

Off-the-bat, I’m poor at time-trialing. Most mountain bikers are poor at time trialing, with a few exceptions, but I am especially poor. Four years ago, when I was able to get top-3 in every road race I entered, I could barely get top-20 in a time trial, and that was with disc wheels, aero-helmets, skin suits, the whole number. So, when I lined up on Thursday for the Prologue to the Willamette Stage Race, I was intimidated, to say the least. I had dug up some old profile aerostrykes out of a cabinet in my garage, and only cruised two rest days on them.
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It looks as though there plans to be a criterium in downtown Albany, OR on Sunday, May 25th.

http://app.obra.org/posts/obra/show/42537

If this is the case, I just may have to head on down and do it. Albany is 10 minutes away from Corvallis, so this would be a good chance to wake up, drive down and race, without taking a whole day out for the event (like I usually have to do).

I hope to see other familiar, shining happy faces out there as well!

What a disappointment! I’m not even in the OBRA results… Although, it would say a big-fat DNF, I like seeing my name in print.

Short answer, here’s what happened: No, I didn’t get dropped again. I flatted out.

Long answer:

I arrived at Hagg Lake with good time to warm up. I didn’t bring my trainer, so I was going to have to get in a good warm up on the road. Another benefit of my arriving early to this race, is that there is no waiting line for the restroom (yet) – way to go coffee drinkers!
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I read about this new mountain bike race in Brian Head, Utah this morning. This stage race looks awesome, with three long stages plus a prologue. It takes place August 21-24, a nice hot time to be spending four days in the desert sun.

The problem: The $400 entry fee is a bit steep. I know that I am not able to afford it without help. With gas, food, and lodging we’re looking at another $500 probably. If I manage to dig up some support or sponsors to back me in this race, I would definitely love being out there in Utah late Summer. If anyone is interested in offering support, I can be contacted at vaughn[dot]andy[at]gmail[dot]com or by phone at (541) 908-0713.

Anyone else planning on doing this race?

I have been wanting to share this for a while now. Here is my ipod playlist that I listen to while warming up for a race. It’s a bunch of angry, hardcore rock music. So, cover your eyes if you don’t like that type of music.

The list is also not ordered, as I have an ipod shuffle, and love that I get to be surprised by what type of angry music I get to listen to next.

• Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) (Short Version) – Concrete Blonde
• Running Knees – Days Of The New
• Walk The Sky – Fuel
• Brain Stew (The Godzilla Remix) – Green Day
• Papercut – Linkin Park
• One Step Closer – Linkin Park
• With You – Linkin Park
• Points Of Authority – Linkin Park
• Crawling – Linkin Park
• Runaway – Linkin Park
• By Myself – Linkin Park
• In The End – Linkin Park
• Place For My Head – Linkin Park
• Forgotten – Linkin Park
• Pushing Me Away – Linkin Park
• Enter Sandman – Metallica
• Wherever I May Roam – Metallica
• The God That Failed – Metallica
• Come With Me – P. Diddy
• No Shelter – Rage Against The Machine
• Pressure – Staind
• For You – Staind
• Schism – Tool
• Parabola – Tool
• Lateralus – Tool
• Falling Away From Me – Korn
• Last Resort – Papa Roach
• Stupify – Disturbed
• Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
• Alive – Godsmack

Not DNF!

Cherry pie was a tough race for me. Mainly due to the fact that I lost contact with the pack after a couple of surges and poor pack placement early on in the first lap. But, faced with the daunting idea of riding 40 miles alone, I was pleasantly surprised when Guinness’ rider Marco Rullo spun up and joined me. We rode together and finished the two laps significantly behind the field.

But, it’s a long season, and my fitness is increasing while my weight is dropping, so it’s only looking up from here.

Cheers!

-Andy

Wicknasty and Tree-Farm better watch out…looks like there’s a new bigfoot on the loose in Malaysia.

I saw this picture as I was scanning the preview of the Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia. I’ve always wanted to race in a tropical place like the island of Langkawi. Although, I once read that Tom Danielson trained inside a sauna on his trainer to get prepared for the heat and humidity – now that’s an animal!

I received my OBRA license in the mail today, and along with it came my MTB and Road numbers. Here’s a couple of pictures of me showing off my new numbers:

Mountain bike mug shots

Road bike mug shots