Yikes, this is what my basement looks like as of this morning, and this is cleaned up. Frames, wheels, tires, and various bikey junk, man, what a mess. I’ll work on that, or not.

New Year’s Eve day and not much happening besides more crummy weather. Just finishing off a piece for ASM and pitching around a couple things. I need to make my travel planes to St. Wendel on Monday and figure the lodging situation. I think I got my February trip all squared away yesterday. I’m going down to Cuba to shoot the Tour of Cuba and I’ve finally sorted out how it’s all going to work. Dealing with the US Govt wasn’t a pleasant experience, so I figured another way that’s still 100% legal and may end being even better for images and stories.

I have some shoots I’m scheduling for January, but the weather better get better, ie snowier, right soon. There may be snow up north, but down here there isn’t much (and it’s raining right now). I went to Dr. Glass yesterday and he totally fixed my back. It was crazy, two adjustments and I walked off the tabel with the back feeling perfect. Considering how amazingly uncomfortable I was last week, it’s a credit to his skills that he can work such magic with minimal movements.

New Year’s day tomorrow, annual Jan 1st bike ride. It’s supposed to be 40 and dry, so why not ride?

So when Adam Craig called me Christmas night about doing a photo shoot on the 26th, I was a bit hesitant. Adam and I had talked about doing a shoot of him singlespeeding when we were out at Cross Nats, but I’d forgotten about it, as had he. Then he remembered.

Seeing as how he’s about to move out to Oregon, this was really the last chance to get the images I needed for a couple projects I’m working on right now (more on that to come). So he came over yesterday, got here around 11 and it was snowing and starting to stick. We went out to the test track where I’d set up some strobes and had at it. The snow started to pile up by the end of the shoot (lasted less than two hours due to his travel schedule), but it made the images a lot cooler. Adam is a hell of a rider, the track was slippery and he just railed it, amazing stuff. Not to mention he’s a really good guy, very accomodating. He definitely didn’t have to come up here, but he obliged and big thanks for that. I think the images came out well for what I was looking for. I shot a bunch of film, including some BW and 120, and I’m off to the lab right now to get them processed.

Pick up the current issue of VN, this cover, and you’ll see a lot of the work I did in December. Something like 17 images of mine in this issue, the most I’ve ever had by far, including a 2xpage spread for the 2nd straight issue.

Christmas was great, the girls were in full effect. It was awesome to see how excited they were…which makes up for how abyssmal the weather’s been. We lost ALL of our snow last Thursday in the space of about four hours. 50 and pouring rain, what a nightmare. So no skiing for right now, though it’s snowing at the moment. I totally tweaked my back and have been on the shelf training-wise for the past few days (took some Vicodan to help me sleep and it seemed to help), I’ll try to see Dr Glass on Tuesday so he can straighten me out.

The big news is that it looks like I’ll be going over to Germany to cover ‘Cross worlds for VN. I’d been lobbying for it and now it’s actually going to happen. I haven’t been to Europe for two years, so I’m really pleased. I guess I just can’t enough ‘cross. Speaking of ‘cross, the plans for next fall’s ‘cross race in the area hit a snag when the original location balked. So it’s back to the drawing board but I have a good venue in mind that might actually work out to be better.

A. Craig is swinging by this afternoon for a short photo shoot of him on his singlespeed. He’s moving out to Bend tomorrow, so this is my last chance to get him. The falling snow should make the images pretty sweet. I’ll try to post some tomorrow.

I woke up to this this morning. Then I walked over to the thermometer, and it was down at 0. Dang. We hardly ever get snow when it’s this cold, but get it we did.

The weekend was highlighted by Mike O’s epic Christmas party. K and I don’t get out to too many bashes, so it was cool to hit one with a live band and all. I made the mistake of trying Red Bull and vodka. I had two, which wasn’t too much from the vodka point of view, but way too much from the RB side. Sleep was not on the horizon for the rest of the night. Lesson learned.

Just finished up editting ‘cross nats images for ASM, that’ll go out tomorrow. Speaking of which, I’m heading up to Burlington on Tuesday to pick up my new skis at Karhu, which makes me hope it snows some more. Then I stop by at C2 and hopefully Backcountry Magazine offices, which is right on the way.

I did an interview with newly re-crowned US ‘Cross champ Jonathan Page today, that’ll be showing up on VeloNews.com and Cyclocrossworld.com later this week, so check it out. JP’s a quiet and humble guy, but he’s a good interview and is really focused on making a go of it as a pro ‘cross racer. I’m going sledding with the girls…

OK, so last post was supposed to be it for ‘cross, but what else am I going to write about right now. Anyway, I haven’t really done a thorough post-mortem on nationals and the season in general. So in no particular order here goes.

Pushing your bike through 20 meter sections of mud just so you can ride for 20 meters to get to the next 20m section of mud is really no fun at all. Take note course designers.

The Portland ‘cross scene is pretty sweet, not as nice as New England mind you, but cool just the same. There’s an alternative buzz to the scene, a whole ‘cross lifestyle if you will, whereas in NE it’s pretty much about having great races. For instance, the amount of beer, music and general weirdness at Portland was refereshing (reminds me of the days messengering in Seattle). But it will never, I repeat never, be reproduced like that in NE when we host nats the next two years. Our course, wherever it ends up being, will be great, even if no tatooed dancing girls and kegs of Guinness make the trip.

Jonathan Page is a sick bike racer. He won nationals four days after racing a World Cup in Milan. That is crazy. He said after the race that his legs felt like crap, and he still won.

Having a pit bike and a friend with a power washer would be nice.

Digital cameras were made for shooting cross nats in Portland. It gets darker and darker, just dial up the ISO and have at it.

Masters fields of over 100 aren’t so bad. But guys lining up in the start area 40 minutes before the start on their indoor trainers to warm up is a bit excessive. I know good start position is important, but please…or maybe I’m just bummed I didn’t think of it.

Maybe I’ll sneak in one more cross post tomorrow, depends. My Steelman is going back to get outfitted with singlespeed dropouts, my Canon 1D and 28-70 are going back because I busted them, and I almost chucked my scanner out the window into the snow this afternoon. Got it?

I promise this is the final ‘cross image of 2004, and it’s not really a ‘cross image anyway. This is a shot of Geoff Kabush, Canadian national ‘cross champ and NORBA mtn bike champ, at US nationals. He came down to Portland from BC just to heckle his teammates and the other racers. By the end of the race he was pretty drunk and letting fly with all manner of verbal abuse to guys who’d been suffering in the mud. Funny stuff.

My last day in Boulder, met with ASM editor Brian M and helped out at VN doing some proofing and setting some article ideas for 05. I was supposed to do a ride/shoot up in Lyons but it didn’t work out. I fly home tomorrow, and while there’s plenty to do back there, I think it’ll be a quiet couple of weeks. Mike O is having a holiday bash Sat night and K and I might actually let loose, not a common occurrence. But I promise, no more cross…

If this post had a postmark it would read Boulder, CO. Right after the finish of the elite men’s race in Portland yesterday I got on a plane and flew to denver, drove to Boulder and just finished editting my ‘Cross Nats shots for VN and handed them to DK, the photo editor. The weather cooperated and the racing was really good, J. Page won his 3rd straight by tearing it up in the muddy sections (check out the roost of his rear tire in this shot).

The POrtland ‘cross scene was nuts. They had a drum corps playing through the races, some alternative marching band with guys on stilts, and lots and lots of beer. There must have been a dozen kegs tapped at the venue and by the men’s race 1/2 the spectators were a few beers into it. I’m surprised no one accidentally walked in front of a rider. It was definitely a cool race scene, a flavor all its own.

I’m pretty beat from the shooting, racing, travel, etc., so it’ll be good to have a few meetings, edit some more shots, then head back home on Wed. No travel for the forseeable future, which is good. Reallly looking forward to hanging around the house with the girls, maybe even skiing.

OK, so this guy, pulling his bike out of the puddle, actually won the collegiate race at nationals today.

The course was a total bog and by the time I raced this afternoon we were running over 30 percent of the lap. I felt fine, but my chain was skipping by 1/2 way through lap one and my rear derailleur broke with a 1/2 lap left in the race, so something like 12 guys passed me. It was pretty frustrating, but no drama. I had a great time racing ‘cross, got some good coverage in VN and hung out with some cool folks.

The shooting was nice, until it got dark. I got some good stuff today for sure and if tomorrow’s weather is similar it’s shaping up to be a good weekend. I fely out to denver tomorrow a few hours after the last race, kinda chaotic. But I’m looking forward to going to Boulder.

Travelled out to Portland, OR yesterday afternnon, got in pretty late, but in general everything went smoothly. But with the time difference and all I was wide awake at 4:30, and I’d forgotten that it stays dark in the NW for a long time. I was ready to go ride at 6:45 but had to wait until it got fully light out, which happened some time nearer to 7:30. Anyway. I rode over to the course did a couple laps and as the image above shows, it is absurdly muddy. I’ll be happy if I can finish the race. Guys were getting their drivetrains so clogged that rear derailleurs were getting torn right off the frames. Fun stuff.

The upside to all this, as long as it isn’t actually raining, is that the images are pretty sweet with all the mud flying around. So that’s good, I guess…

Sideways, not the movie, it’s the way my wheels went on my ride just now. About 2 inches of slushy snow on top of rfonzen ground, it was really slippery. I skidded and sllipped through an hour on the horse trails. Anything off-camber was out of the question. But it was nice to get out anyway.

You can see what kind of ride it was from how my frame came out of it. The new image gallery is just a couple shots from the summer that I’d not scanned. Taken with the Pentax 67 and a fisheye. Very different shots, but I like them nonetheless.