Wonka’s back

Tom was in town.

John’s foot is still fucked.

And these dudes tried to steal the new hog.

Poor turn out but the race was great. I came into the race trying to repeat with a bike I had been riding for  a day and JT came into the race wanting to kick my ass. From the start I knew it was going to be a long race because there were 3 manifest. I knew who I had to beat to win, two of them being EMPIRE riders. Middle of the race I developed a pretty decent lead on Cali, Yatika and JT. As I was going over the Williamsburg bridge, I felt like i was going backwards. Got caught by JT and Cali. Rode with them to the finish until I got lost with JT on our way to 409 Willoughby. Out-sprinted JT, no repeat. Good job Cali!

1. Cali 1:41

2. Yatika -0:00

3. Crihs -01:00

4. JT -01:00

5. Pavel -09:00

Congrats to Dwain on his Category 3 upgrade and Dan on getting his Category 2 in cyclocross!

Dan off the front.

Dwain dancing through the mud.

Photos by Keith Snyder

After learner more than I wanted about motors, I learned the original jalopy was beyond repair. So we upgraded.

And then we took advantage of some nice sunny weather and shot with JT.

Darren over at Brooklyn Machine Works turned me on to some great pictures over at Life of Sir Chris Hoy in the gym.

I haven’t really raced for a while, but I like to pretend I might, and I’m a big fan of lifting weights, Heavy weights. When I lift I keep it simple and stick to squats, dead lifts, and occasionally presses.

In the picture above Sir Hoy is performing a high bar back squat.

Notice here that Sir Hoy is going deep. This is absolutely crucial to move through the full range of motion. Don’t cheat yourself. Go below parallel.

Weight training is great for total body strength, but it does slow you down. Consequently, this winter I am going to experiment with Olympic Lifting at my gym and may even pay a visit to some specialists in Queens. I highly recommend a visit to that site. The pictures are amazing, and according to Alex, it’s even better than you think.

If you don’t have the time to put together a complete strength and power training program, here’s an interesting short cut. Remember, “Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.”